God Shed His Grace on Thee
God shed His grace on thee
When the bombs were bursting
And limbs were flailing
You came from the fight
Bruised and beaten
Yet your symbol raised up
A final act of defiance
To our cousins across the sea
You screamed
"Freedom is mine. Freedom is mine. This land is mine. You can see it
By the dawn's early light. It is colored in red white and blue- this freedom is mine"
You called out freedom like it was an old friend.
A friend you thought was too nice to bestow to those three shades darker
So when the copper skinned asked for a seat at the table you
Reaching out with bloodied hands and dry mouths you screamed-
Freedom is mine. This freedom is mine. Not yours.
And God shed His grace on thee
When tyrants ran over bodies like old sheets of paper
And you ran to their rescue
You had grown strong since your last major fight
The growing pains hurt like a bitch
But a bitch you made your own
Your cousin across the sea would be proud,
In fact, he needed your help
And so you-
ever the hero, ever the optimist
Put your boots back on and went into the fight
You sang with the song of a million voices
To free those you didn't even know
To free those who needed you
You never understood how so many
Could let fear make locking up innocent human beings seem rational
Until you did the same thing
Of course you didn't kill anyone
You just let them know that they were less than you in everyway
And couldn't be trusted
Because this land is yours. You fought for it once.
I mean no one looks down at the bodies you stand on
Once you have made it to the top
God shed His grace on thee!
When all eyes looked to the moon
And saw your name all over it
No country could rival your greatness
You had conquered the sky
You yourself wondered
If there was anything greater to be had
If there was anything you could not do
You told yourself no.
You remembered the song you sang when you came home from battle
This land is your land. This land is my land.
It was echoed so many times
Over and over again
It got fragmented amongst the lines of soldiers
And so all you heard was,
This land is my land. This land is my land.
And it was you who made it great
Going to war to fght for freedom
As long as that freedom pertained to you
And you were fighting for people who looked like you
And if they didn't-
You fought for the oil
I mean for the global stability.
And time after time
God shed His grace on thee!
It sounds great in songs
But at some point-
Somewhere down the line
God didn't shed His grace on thee
You took it.
Just like this land.
Just like this freedom.
From sea to shining sea
I only ask, that you
Spend more time learning how to shed it to others
Be like that God you praise every Sunday.
Because you were right.
Through all your wrongs- you were right
There is nothing you cannot do.