America the Beautiful — Reprise
To Redeem Our Nation’s Soul
Oh beautiful for broken dreams,
for hopes dashed on the shore,
for clashing views and crashing news
inciting civil war
America, America
God hides his face from thee
What will it take to reignite
the beacon of the free?
The Founding Fathers built this land
on sacrifice and dreams,
on courage and conviction,
but also wicked schemes
This land was built on bloodshed,
on genocide and lies,
on slavery and oppression
and suppressed ancestral cries
The ripples from those tidal waves
of stolen lives and sin
still crash and drown the progeny
who bear Earth colored skin
Now half this nation’s looking back
to history held as great
The other half condemns the past
of misery and hate
Some take a knee upon a field
while others take offense
and drive a knee into a neck
while claiming self defense
The lives that matter won’t back down
until the debts are paid
And justice reconciles the blight
incurred by evil trade
Brutality and heartless greed
defended by the law —
bankrolled by the lobbyists
could be our fatal flaw
When corporations rule the land
and loot ill gotten gains,
corroded pipelines flow with lead
and poison people’s brains
Our leaders march us to the cliff
and cast us in the sea
while children swipe their souls away
masquerading misery
The lungs of youth are vaporized
on mango nicotine
School shooter Walmart special on a new AR-15
Children torn from parents arms
Such horror at what cost?
There’s no excuse for such abuse
our moral compass lost
For too long now we’ve looked away
from the sorrow and the pain,
from the murder and injustice
and the inhumane disdain
The huddled homeless masses
still struggle to breathe free —
yearning for the blessings
of Lady Liberty
100 million citizens
believe their votes don’t count
and the crooks and clowns in power
disenfranchise — Throw them out!
When science equals fashion
tech and meds are hot to choose,
while climate is discarded
like old orthopedic shoes
The icecaps melting change our course
pandemic — on the brink,
Let’s muster strength to turn this ship
around before it sinks
That human life is born in pain
is a fact we can’t deny
Redemption from immoral youth
commences with a cry
That rises to the heavens
and engulfs the human race
God will only crown our good
when we shed tears of grace
Those who claim in Holy name
their purity with pride
will answer to their maker
for benevolence denied
The Good Book warns to not forget
the stranger and the poor
The orphan and the widow
are knocking at our door
If we only turn the other cheek
to hide from ugly truth,
we won’t uphold her legacy
Dissent for Justice Ruth!
It’s time the cunning fathers
clear the field and take a seat
It’s mother’s turn to call the plays
and lead us to defeat
the bigotry and narrow minds
who plunder, gut and kill
to satiate the hungers
that subvert the human will
Our country’s bruised and battered
We’re black and blue and red
Majestic purple mountains
Cast shadows on the dead
Whose blood and tears have stained the plains
beneath our spacious skies,
America the Beautiful
Repair! Redeem! Reprise!
Let storm clouds clear the time is near
Let Sunrise light reveal
the path to fertile pastures
a Greener, Newer Deal
Reclaim a voice, restore a choice
Let’s welcome a new day
of She and Her and He and Him
and We and Them and They
With courage and conviction
and sacrifice and zeal
we can take a stand to revive this land
and the hearts that long to heal
America, America
God shed your grace on We
who fight to form a Peoplehood
of Noble Dignity
America, America
Ordain this lofty goal
Let humbled hearts and prudent minds
redeem our nation’s soul.
