Kurt Weill
Act IV, The Prophets, Scene 32: Isaiah and Jeremiah
[ISAIAH]
Watchman, how far is the night gone?
Watchman, when endeth the darkness?
[JEREMIAH]
Woe! Ah, woe to Jerusalem
Woe! Woe!
A city of ruins where jackals make their home
And death through the windows looks into the palace
He slaughters the children on streets and on doorsteps
The corpses lie rotting like dung in the furrows
Like sheaves in the autumn forgotten by the reaper
Oh, whereforе, oh wherefore did mothеr conceive me?
Oh, wherefore did I not die at her breast?
[ISAIAH]
"Comfort, comfort My people"
Thus saith the Lord
One day will the nations of earth arise
Proclaiming we follow in Israel's ways
For from Zion alone shall the law come forth
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem
And they shall abandon their weapons of war
And refashion their spears into pruning hooks