House concert video: Ron Lindeman Peace Bird – February 2023

House concert video: Ron Lindeman Peace Bird
February 2023
Music and lyrics by Ron Lindeman

This is a song about the desire for peace and freedom in a time of war. People who are caught in a war must have the desire for peace and freedom.

All through human history there have been wars. And there have always been political leaders and heads of states or kings or emperors who have invaded other countries. But who were and are they to do so? In the previous century there have been two World Wars that costed the lives of millions of people. And yet after the last World War everywhere on this planet earth there have been again wars and armed conflicts in almost every part of the world. It never seems to stop. Political leaders think that they can order young men to march into wars and get them killed for reasons that exist only in their twisted minds. Look at what currently happens in the Ukraine in 2022 and 2023. Thousands of civilians have already been killed by the senseless bombing ordered by the invader. And those who are still alive must be longing for peace and freedom!

Peace Bird refers to a statue made by the African artist Gonçalo Armando Mabunda from Mozambique who, after the long civil war in his country, sawed guns and rifles and used ammunition into pieces and made artworks of the pieces. A statue he made is called Peace Bird. The weapons of war were turned into an artwork symbolizing peace.

Peace bird

Bird, Bird
Bird of Paradise
Bird so high up in the sky
Sailing the sky
Looking down on me

I walked this land
Always so proudly
When I was a child
And lifted my mind so easy
So high up in the skies
Where peaceful birds fly

When I was a man I watched so many
Innocent people die
I thought my mind would leave my body
Searching everywhere for the why

On the wide and windy plains
On the rocky slopes of mountains high
Where truth means life
And a lie could make you die
I could not find any answers
On the quest for the why

Once I washed my hands with water
From the clearest creek
Once I sat quietly alongside
The green river bank
Till the bodies floated by
And blood colored the water red
All I wanted was peace in my heart
Tranquility in my soul

All I wanted was the beauty of life
All I wanted was a free mind
Freed from the horrors in life
As free as birds can fly

Bird, bird
Bird of War
Bird of Prey
Spread your wings and change your flight
Bird, Bird
Bird of Paradise
Bird of Peace

Peace arose after the hatred
Like a Phoenix from the ashes
Rising above the smoke
Of all these burned down houses
And all the rotted corpses

When the cannon thunder silenced
And the gun barrels were molten
And the rifles sawn to pieces
And the bullets lay forgotten

Then the artist’s hands recreated
Violence and hatred
Into a symbol of peace
This Bird of Peace

Peace in my heart
Peace in my mind
Peace in my soul
Such a dark bad world
Turn it into a haven of light
Let peace take its flight
Through the darkness of the night
And when the world awakens
In the early morning sun
The evil spell is broken
The Bird of Peace
Has won

Bird, Bird
Peace Bird
Fly across this land
Like a Bird of Paradise
Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes
This Bird of Peace
This Bird of Peace
Peace Bird
Peace Bird
Peace Bird

Lyrics and music by Ron Lindeman
Copyright Ron Lindeman