Home Square Dance The Sparrows Listen to St. Francis

The Sparrows Listen to St. Francis

God, God, God, God —
Something good to eat;
Gott! Gott! Gott!
Stab at seed, repeat;
Dieu-Dieu-Dieu-Dieu-Dieu
Dust baths in the heat;
Dio, Dio, Dio —
Rafters for retreat.

Hail Mary, gratia plena,
Grain aplenty, let us pray:
Ave Maria,
Avena sativa
Oats and hay.

Redemptori Domino
What? Up from the gutter?
Iacenti in praesepio
What? Perch on the brink?
Christo Dei filio
I could do with a drink;
Unigenito
Make it double the flutter.

Avian savior, Jesu,
In the harrowed way grew
Blades of sage and fescue,
Salvia to the rescue.

Amen/Almond.

Gott, Dieu, Dio – “God” in German, French, and Italian.

Avena sativa – The scientific name of oats.

Gratia plena – Latin for “full of grace” from the traditional Christian prayer.

Redemptori Domino – Latin for “the Lord our Savior,” from a hymn by Michael Praetorius (1571‑1621). The other Latin lines in the stanza are similarly lyrics from that hymn.

Iacenti in praesepio – Latin for “lying in the manger.”

Unigenito – Latin for “the only begotten.”

Christo Dei filio – Latin for “Christ, the son of God.”

Harrowed – A pun on the two meanings of “harrowed”: ploughed and tormented.

Sage – A pun on sage meaning both a wise man and a plant. As the common name of a plant, sage can refer to either the genus Salvia (mint) or Artemisia (sagebrush).

Fescue – A tufted perennial grass.

Salvia – A play on “salvation” and “Salvia,” a genus of herbs and shrubs in the mint family.

Amen/Almond – In American English, “almond” is frequently pronounced without the “l” sound (AH‑mund) with the “a” sound the same as in “amen” (ah‑MEN). When “amen” is sung, the stress on the two syllables is sometimes evened out so that “amen” sounds closer to “almond.”