Oud and Roses

Oud and roses
Open your window

Grandfather's oud had a crack in the bowl
Forty years asleep on top of the wardrobe
I carried it down to the old man in the medina
He said, "This wood still remembers a song"
Three weeks of glue and one new string
I tuned it tonight by the light on the stairs
This oud once played for my grandmother
Under this balcony, fifty years ago

Ya rouhi, the street is asleep
But I didn't come to sing it quiet

Oud and roses, open your window
Throw me one red rose if it's yes
Oud and roses, the whole street is listening
Grandfather's song in my chest

Oud and roses

Lights come on in the house next door
Your aunties laughing through the shutters
Your father coughs and shuts his curtain
Then opens it again to watch
My cousin holds the lantern steady
My fingers shaking on the frets
The first rose lands on my shoulder
Then the whole balcony rains red

Ya rouhi, the street is awake
And I didn't come to sing it quiet

Oud and roses, open your window
Throw me one red rose if it's yes
Oud and roses, the whole street is listening
Grandfather's song in my chest

Oud and roses

My grandmother kept one of his roses
Pressed in her wedding box for fifty years
Tomorrow you'll have a rose of mine
To keep for fifty more

Oud and roses, you opened your window
One red rose, and I heard yes
Oud and roses, the whole street is singing
Grandfather's song in my chest

Oud and roses

Oud and roses