Nina Jo Smith - La Terre

La Terre
Words & Music by Nina Jo Smith (BMI)
© 2023 Redwood River Music (BMI)

He left home
A hundred years ago
Hungry for the world
Lists of words in notebooks
He wanted to fill

Words march across his pages in columns
Like young men off to war
Poems memorized entirely
Only he knows what for

Earth, die Erde, la terre
Sky, der Himmel, le ciel
Earth, die Erde, la terre
Sky, der Himmel, le ciel

It’s 1918
He’s hungry for the world
Does he write for peace or wisdom
A young man or a girl?

It’s 1938
He sails from New York to Belgrade
Poems memorized entirely
For five days on the waves

Sea, die See, la mer
Earth, die Erde, la terre
Sea, die See, la mer
Earth, die Erde, la terre

-ism, -asm, -osm,–ical
Ein Gedichte von Heine
Copied in pencil

I’m hungry for words
And to know his mind
Do they mean anything?
Will they make me more kind?

It’s 2018
can I learn anything
From him writing of the age
Or are these just
Impressions on a page?

Earth, die Erde, la terre
Sky, der Himmel, le ciel
Sea, die See, la mer
Earth, die Erde, la terre

La terre, la terre, la terre.