Johanna:
Green fi nch and linnet bird,
Nightingale, blackbird,
How is it you sing?
How can you jubilate,
Sitting in cages,
Never taking wing?
Outside the sky waits,
Beckoning, beckoning,
Just beyond the bars
How can you remain,
Staring at the rain,
Maddened by the stars?
How is it you sing anything?
How is it you sing?
My cage has many rooms,
Damask and dark
Nothing there sings,
Not even my lark
Larks never will, you know,
When they're captive
Teach me to be more adaptive
Ahh…
Green finch and linnet bird,
Nightingale, blackbird,
Teach me how to sing
If I cannot fly,
Let me sing