94 lines
2.2 KiB
Plaintext
94 lines
2.2 KiB
Plaintext
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Stained-glass and the choir sing out
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That strong and ceaseless chorus here
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So sweet the voices, sweep like
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Leaves into the street, on Easter
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A celebration, carried on
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For God and hope and refuge
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To keep each other, life
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Give shelter from the storm (And keep warm)
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The congregation gathers
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Outside in the parking lot
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Each service done, they keep the old hymn
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Rolling on and on, and
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I see the scene in color each day
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Driving out to Eastown
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That old abandoned church
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And have I gone the same sad way?
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Have I gone the same sad way?
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Through the sixties flourished
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And the seventies did flux
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The eighties fluctuate each year
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Unclear when the money would dry up
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And when the nineties
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Violent crime and rising
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Unemployment rates came by
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That parking lot grew dim and thin
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Of sinners and saints
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Until the voices
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Unceasing, slowly faded to black
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Until the weeds stormed the concrete
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From unattended cracks
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It had to know, had to feel that glory
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Never coming back
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Like I could feel it when the passion left
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The last of what I had
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It had to know
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Like I knew
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And I can't find it back
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Might not ever
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Ten years now, standing vacant
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Ten years on empty, maybe more
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Once held the faith of hundreds
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Soon one more cell phone store
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For years, they gathered here
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Inside the building, sound and true
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To sing their praises to a god
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That gave them hope, to carry on
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To carry through
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So I've been thinking about that
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Sometimes go slow when I drive by
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How a home of stone and a house so holy
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Grows so empty over time
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What gave those people purpose
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Past death approaching constantly
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Now left to crumble slowly
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Now left to wither with the weeds
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Now left to ice and vandals
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The advent candles long since gone
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The old foundation shifting hard
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The concrete overgrown, but
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That stained-glass window
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Sits untouched amongst the brickwork worn
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A symbol of the beauty
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Only perfect at that moment we were born
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And just the other day
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I swear I saw a man there
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Pulling weeds out of the concrete
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Sweeping up and patching cracks
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I saw him lift a rag to
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Wash the years of
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Filth from off those windows
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Made me wonder if there's
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Anyone like that
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For you and me
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And anybody else
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Who broke and lost hope
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______________________________________________
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Name St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church Blues
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Artist La Dispute
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Album Wildlife
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