Cher Ami
March, D Major
Right after Big-Eared Brad the bunny died, fellow backyard residents Chubby Andrew and Long-Necked Jimmy nosed around his final resting spot. They pawed around, sat for a while. Then a mourning dove showed up. She perched above Brad’s stone patio and sat vigil for three days.
We named her Cher Ami for the WWI messenger pigeon (whose sex was debated for decades). The original Cher Ami was shot through the breast, eye, and leg—and still managed to deliver a message that saved 194 soldiers trapped behind enemy lines. Our Cher Ami was more quietly heroic
I had mostly written this tune back in January, after reading Kathleen Rooney’s novelization of the WWI story, and thinking of my dear friends around the globe. After revisiting the tune, my friend Hirofumi Nakamura wrote words to the B part. I’m looking forward to singing them with him before too long.
