words and music by Debbie Friedman, debbiefriedman.com
Based on Joel 3:1, this song is a call to action, and a depiction of a story that is common for many Jews.
Lyrics:
Childhood was for fantasies, for nursery rhymes and toys.
The world was much too busy to understand small girls and boys.
As I grew up, I came to learn that life was not a game,
That heroes were just people that we called another name.
CHORUS:
And the old shall dream dreams, and the youth shall see visions,
And our hopes shall rise up to the sky.
We must live for today; we must build for tomorrow.
Give us time, give us strength, give us life.
Now I’m grown, the years have passed, I’ve come to understand:
There are choices to be made and my life’s at my command.
I cannot have a future ’til I embrace the past.
I promise to pursue the challenge, time is going fast.
CHORUS
Today’s the day I take my stand, the future’s mine to hold.
Commitments that I make today are dreams from days of old.
I have to make the way for generations come and go.
I’ll have to teach them what I’ve learned so they will come to know.