Lyrics from an Unrealized Opus

We are the Earthbound Opera,
A company in chains,
For while we may sing tra-la-la,
We're racked with gruesome pains;
We're cursed to court unhappiness,
This troupe the world disdains;
We can't perform an aria
With major key refrains.

We wander through the hinterlands;
We trill for crusts of bread,
And though in frosty winterlands
We're spurned with looks of dread,
We tread the roads incessantly--
Our fate decrees it so!
There is no rest for bitter bands
Of flightless vireos.

So sullenly we travel on
The sad and weary ways,
In search of some sweet Avalon
Where we may spend our days
Retuned to cheer and joyfulness,
Discarding minor modes,
And trolling out a carillon
Composed of dulcet odes.

Have pity on these choralists
Who long to be set free,
Who beg the harshest moralists:
Mock not our vagrancy!