“Light One Candle” Peter, Paul, and Mary… This is, for me, the song of the year in view of the loss of our people in Newtown, Connecticut.
It’s a not new Hanukkah (but is also Christian, Buddhist, and whatever else ) song performed by Peter, Paul, and Mary in a holiday special years ago. The album is available on amazon…
and you can also watch a performance of it on youtube.
Here are the lyrics:
Light one candle for the Maccabees’ childrenWith thanks that their light didn’t dieLight one candle for the pain they enduredWhen their right to exist was deniedLight one candle for the terrible sacrificeJustice and freedom demandBut light one candle for the wisdom to knowWhen the peacemaker’s time is at hand
Don’t let the light go outIt’s lasted for so many yearsDon’t let the light go outLet it shine through our love and our tears
Light one candle for the strength that we needTo never become our own foeAnd light one candle for those who are suffering— Pain we learned so long ago
Light one candle for all we believe inThat anger not tear us apartAnd light one candle to find us togetherWith peace as the song in our hearts
Don’t let the light go outIt’s lasted for so many yearsDon’t let the light go outLet it shine through our love and our tears
Don’t let the light go outIt’s lasted for so many yearsDon’t let the light go outLet it shine through our love and our tears
What is the memory that’s valued so highlyThat we keep it alive in that flame?What’s the commitment to those who diedThat we cry out they’ve not died in vain?
We have come this far always believingThat justice would somehow prevailThis is the burden, this is the promiseThis is why we will not fail
Don’t let the light go outIt’s lasted for so many yearsDon’t let the light go outLet it shine through our love and our tears
Read more: PETER, PAUL & MARY – LIGHT ONE CANDLE LYRICS
Friends:
Years ago, Dave and I lost two babies in two years. To say we were devastated doesn’t begin to do justice to what we lived through. And no, you never get “over” any of it. You learn to go around, through, embrace, and then you pray to heal…. Which, thanks to all the loving people and God’s grace, we did. But one thing I know is this:
None of these parents ever expected to have to bury their own children.
Most of them, I’d guess, never had a funeral fund in the bank.
They probably had barely got a college fund started.
The last thing they can do for their children is bury them.
You can donate to burial expenses fund here.
Light a candle. Make the darkness bright. Don’t let the light go out. Let it shine through our love and our tears.
Sing a new song; it’s all we can do,
Alyce