Adams: The Death of Klinghoffer, Prologue: Chorus of Exiled Palestinians - Kent Nagano, Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon, The London Opera Chorus

My father’s house was razed

In nineteen forty-eight

When the Israelis passed

Over our street

The house was built of stone

With a courtyard inside

Where, on a hot day, one

Could sit in shade

Under a tree, and have

A glass of something cool

Coolness rose like a wave

From our pure well

No one was turned away

The doorstep had worn down:

I see in my mind’s eye

A crescent moon

Of that house, not a wall

In which a bird might nest

Was left to stand. Israel

Laid all to waste

Though we have paid to drink

Our water, and our wood

Is sold to us, we thank

The only God

Let the supplanter look

Upon his work. Our faith

Will take the stones he broke

And break his teeth