“Between”

A song written for the Transgender Day of Remembrance

I wrote this song in honor of the transgendered folk who died by violence, whose names we call on the Transgendered Day of Remembrance, November 28th. It is my offering to them, and my gift to this community. I provide here the sheet music and an informal recording of me singing it, so that people will know what it sounds like.

Who can sing it in public? Anyone! Who can record it? Anyone, so long you A) ask my permission first (email me at cauldronfarm@hotmail.com), send me a few free tapes for giving out as gifts, and send me a .mp3 of the recording to go up on this page. In other words, any recording of it by anyone is going to be free to all eventually. That's what "gift" means.

May we remember, always, our beloved dead.

-Raven Kaldera

Between

Recording (mp3)
Sheet Music (pdf, first verse)

Between the ice and the steam is the ocean,
Between the day and the night is the dawn,
Between the darkness of space and the fire of the sun
Is the life of the Earth and the flash of the star.
Between the man and the woman we walked here
But the mystery we held will live on,
As long as the children of our hearts and our souls
Keep remembering
Who we are.

Between the door to the Dead and the living,
We are the warrior Dead of your tribe,
The ancestors lost to the hand of the foe
Between the storm of their hate and desire and fear.
You hold all of our dreams under your skin,
Your body's memory keeps us alive,
For you are the children of our hearts and our souls
And there are more of us
Every year.

Between the ice and the steam is the ocean,
Between the day and the night is the dawn,
Between the song of your voice and your face in the mirror
Is the life of the Earth and the flash of the star.
Between the woman and man we were caught here
But the blessing we held will live on,
As long as the children of our hearts and our souls
Keep remembering
Who you are.

© Raven Kaldera 2008