Lyric

We arrived. The doors will open wide

So many words — where will we start?

A street of ramen, spice and seafood smoke

Malay and Tamil, English all at once

"I'm going to try it," Bird said, and he spoke —

And a Hindu shopkeeper smiled and answered once

For example: "hello" has a thousand shapes

We will learn them, one by one, someday

Various voices, various tastes —

We're going to find our own way to say

Words are power. Words are light

Every language is a door

We're going to knock. We're going to write

We will know this culture more and more

Mina will paint the mosque against the sky

"Someday," she said, "I'll write in every tongue."

Bird is going to order one more kind —

"Especially that one," he said. "It smells like home."

If a word is new, we're not afraid

We're going to ask. We're going to stay

Because a word you learn is a gift you've made —

And we will carry every one away

Words are power. Words are light

Every language is a door

We're going to open every one on sight

We will not stop. We'll always want more

So many doors… we'll open them soon

Words are light