Prayer of the Children
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The Prayer of the Children is a song. The words and music were written by Kurt Bestor and it was arranged by Andrea S. Klouse for a four-part men's choir.
[edit] History
Bestor served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Serbia during the 1970s. This song was written years later when the Yugoslav wars broke out in the early 1990s as a tribute to the country's children. Meridian Magazine described it this way:
Later when war broke out, and Yugoslavia splintered into warring factions with Serbs, Croatians and Bosnians hating and butchering each other, Kurt's heart was aching. What came to him--haunted him--were the faces of the children he had known. "Those children didn't hate anybody," he said. "They didn't care about who owned the land, or who had the power or the money. These are adult neuroses. They just wanted to have a mom and dad and a place to play." [1]
[edit] Performances
- The song was given due attention by the Aylen Junior High Choraliers under the direction of Peggy Kim Burrough, as noted in the published score.
- The song is for the 1996 Georgia All-State Junior High Mixed Chorus, as also noted in the score.
- The song was first sung in SSAA arrangement by the Tahoma Girls Choir in 1996 at the International Choral Kathaumixw, in Powell River, British Columbia.
- The song is the signature piece for the Northern Pines young men's chorale and has been taken with them to many competitions, festivals, and performances.
- This song was presented by the Saint-Ignatius High School (Cleveland, OH) Acapella singing group, the Cat-o'-Tonics, at the 2006 National High School Acapella Championship in Washington, D.C..
- Prayer of the Children was performed at the 2006 Best in the Northwest competition in Portland, Oregon by Meridian Middle School's 8th grade Women's Choir from Kent, Washington.
- This song is one of the freedom songs, or songs of social awareness, of the Rockapellas, an all-female a cappella group from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
- This song won the Mount Juliet High School (TN) Ladies of Vocal Excellence (L.O.V.E.) Grand Champion at the New York Fiestaval Invitational in 2004. It also won them numerous superiors at state and regional ajundications.
- This song was presented by the Oviedo High School choir in a church less than a mile from Ground Zero in New York City as a tribute in 2005.
- This song has been sung on occasion by the Cut Bank High School Concert Choir, and other CBHS choral groups. Additionally, several Native American choral groups also from Montana have sung this song.
- The American Boychoir and male alumni, under the direction of James Litton, recorded this song as part of a farewell concert at Princeton University on June 16, 2001. The performance was issued on a CD of the concert by the American Boychoir.
[edit] Lyrics
Can you hear the prayer of the children
on bended knee, in the shadow of an unknown room?
Empty eyes with no more tears to cry
turning heavenward toward the light.
Cryin' Jesus help me
to see the mornin' light of one more day,
but if I should die before I wake,
I pray my soul to take.
Can you feel the hearts of the children
aching for home, for something of their very own.
Reaching hands with nothing to hold onto
but hope for a better day, a better day.
Cryin' Jesus help me
to feel the love again in my own land,
but if unknown roads lead away from home,
give me loving arms, 'way from harm.
Can you hear the voice of the children
softly pleading for silence in their shatterd world?
Angry guns preach a gospel full of hate,
blood of the innocent on their hands.
Cryin' Jesus, help me
to feel the sun again upon my face?
For when darkness clears, I know you're near,
bringing peace again.
Can you hear the prayer of the children?
