Great Stone Wall

if I could face the day the way the sunlight does
if I could rise with morning mist
then I would know the way that the water-fish swims
I could hold the lessons in my fist
we are dying, say the elders, and we don’t even know
this is only a temporary peace
we’re only waiting for the outcome to show
and the endings to be released

behind the silence of a great stone wall
in the howling of a new wilderness
beyond the distance of a great stone wall
it will change, it will change
it wasn’t always like this

I’ve been to places where the clocks don’t tick
and they laugh at the hard straight line
where history looks through baby’s eyes
and the light of the future is a good sign
some laws are made of barbed wire
and they lean to the privileged few
but reality shoots from behind a blade of grass
and its aim is true

there’s a warfare fought in the bloodstream now
and truth is a thing to be praised
the lie gets mean and it hides in the marrow
and it waits for the stakes to be raised
and the dry rattle breath of exit time
is a wake-up call to your ear
and the feel of a fist at the end of your arm
gives the answer to your tears

they tell me there’s light at the end of the tunnel
and sometimes I think I see
like a dissident glint in the eye of a needle
and the glitter of a soul set free
there’s a song they sing in the worst of times
to lift your spirit on the wings and fly
way on the other side of that storm cloud wall
dancing in the clear blue sky