Dona Dona

Dona Dona

(Original Yiddish words by Aaron Zeitlin and Shalom Secunda;
English translation by Arthur Kevess and Teddi Schwartz)

On a wagon bound for market
There's a calf with a mournful eye.
High above him there's a swallow
Winging swiftly through the sky.

     How the winds are laughing
     They laugh with all their might
     Laugh and laugh the whole day through
     And half the summer's night.

     Dona dona dona dona
     Dona dona dona down
     Dona dona dona dona
     Dona dona dona down

"Stop complaining," said the farmer,
"Who told you a calf to be"
Why don't you have wings to fly away
Like the swallow so proud and free?"

Calves are easily bound and slaughtered
Never knowing the reason why.
But whoever treasures freedom,
Like the swallow must learn to fly