Here is a song that was popular in Jewish summer camps 55 years ago. The author and composer are unknown. Rumor has it that it was written by a 16-year-old junior counselor in an all-girls Orthodox camp called Camp Bais Yaakov (Beth Jacob) in the Catskill Mountains sometime between the end of World War 2 and 1948 when the State of Israel was created. The Holocaust was still fresh in her mind. Many of you may know the tune which is the same as the Israeli folk song B'Arvot Hanegev. This song, "The Little Bird" preceded it, but the tune was never copyrighted.

The little bird is calling
He wishes to return
The little bird is wounded
He cannot cry but yearns
He's captured by the vultures
And is crying bitterly
Oh to see my nest again
Oh to be redeemed

The little bird of silver
So delicate and rare
Still chirps among the vultures
Outshining all that's there
How long, how long it suffers
How long will it be
When will come the eagle
And set the little bird free

The little bird is Yisroel (Israel)
The vultures are our foes
The painful wound is Galus (exile)
Which we all feel and know
The nest is Yerusholayim (Jerusalem)
Which we yearn to see once more
The eagle is Moshiach (Messiah)
Whom we are waiting for

Please note that the word Yisroel refers to the Jewish people and not to the State of Israel which was not yet in existence when this song was written. Both, the words and music are in the public domain.
SOL ZELLER