UKRAINE - We Want to Live Here

Hello from Ukraine, dear friends!

This year’s Schoolovision song was written during the first weeks of the war by the Ukrainian composer Kateryna Komar to show the pain of children suffering through the cruelties of war. Today, more than four years later, we have decided to sing the full version for you. This song is about the 'little one' inside each of us. It is about children who were forced to become adults in an instant; about those who live under the constant threat of death; and those who wait to return home to their own rooms and their toys. It is for those who have lost a father or a mother. And finally, it is for those who became angels, and those who were stolen by Russia and remain outside of Ukraine in foreign families.

We Want to Live Here

We want to live upon this land,
For here our mothers and fathers stay.
And when the flowers bloom so grand,
We’d throw our arms 'round the world today.

Soon this war will reach its end,
And maybe then, deep sleep we'll find.
And all she stole, piece by piece, we'll mend,
Leaving no fragment left behind.

They took my home, they tore it down,
But I’ll return where I belong.
I’ll stay alive, though shadows frown,
Through pain and tears, through weariness strong.

They fire their guns, but I feel no fear,
In one great goal, our hearts combine.
Though we are children, the way is clear:
To change the world—and Ukraine shall shine!

Blow, blow wind, with all you might,
Across our Ukraine, far and wide.
Dry every tear, end the night,
And let a peaceful heart preside.

Though we are small, we shall be brave,

With strength that time can never rise,

And the sun shall dance on every wave,

And shine forever in our eyes.