in my heart i feel you slipping away
grandmother, grandfather
in my heart i feel you slipping away
great uncle, great aunt
your generation, the best of our family
what will there be when the last of you are gone?
heavy nothing fills my heart
with each stopped breath as each soul ascends
but who will replace you when the young refuse to grow?
i feel scared for the children
i feel sorrow for the loss of our society, our home, our churches
and our streets
when you were young there were no school shootings
and you never doubted that God was good
you saved yourselves for marriage
and put your paychecks in the bank
everything that is left good in our homes and hearts,
everything that is left good in our towns and our cities
we have you to thank
but we, we have failed you and failed your great legacy
we have destroyed all our morals
and destroyed our economies, both in the large and in the small
we have failed you and our children
for many generations to come
i think of you, each of you, gone and yet to go, soon to go
and i hope that you know that if nothing else,
i know, that you all did the best that you could
but it is your children and theirs who have led themselves
and their brothers to no good end
i have faith in you and God and in all things
the universe brings and in my heart i believe
peace and goodwill will return to the american heart
or whatever this land becomes if america falls apart
i am heartbroken but know that all follows the will of our Lord
and my failure is no less than the collective
i cannot help but cry
in my mind's eye i place a rose, single and red
at the grave of each, struggled, lived, now dead. |
Loading...