Promised Land

INSTRUMENTAL VERSION

VOCAL

Psalm for the Promised Land                 © 2000 by Myron Schreck

It doesn’t matter which direction; it doesn’t matter how far you go.  You can’t escape your own reflection.  You can’t deny the lies you’ve been told.  Since the dawn of history, this land was yours alone.  Now you must defend your home.  Now you have to right the wrongs. 

It’s written in your ancient books; it passes down from parent to child.  You see it every place you look:  the bias, and the hate and the guile.   Everybody thinks they’re the only ones:  “Favored by God.”  Everyone expects to win.  No one will admit they’ve sinned. 

But everybody loses in the end; everybody loses in the end.   …

You fight to keep the Promised Land.  You fight to build security.  You’ll kill whoever gets in your way:  innocent or enemy.   And it doesn’t matter who gets hurt when the bomb explodes on the crowded bus.  What will the future hold for us when you’ve destroyed all the trust?

And everybody loses in the end; everybody loses in the end.   …

Kosovo – Beirut – Ruwanda – Jerusalem.    

Yucatan – Iran – Iraq – Afghanistan. 

Sarajevo – Chechna – Belfast – Johannesburg.  

Mississippi – Tibet – Quebec – Yerushalayim.  

… Yerushalayim … Yerushalayim …

Oh when will we have peace?