searching for america

Lyrics

they herded us like so much meat, up from the sewers to the street, where concrete canyons stretched their walls, so high it made us want to crawl, past proverbs writ on subway cars, and inbetween the window bars, we walked until the pavement bled, and not a curse was left unsaid, into a place that knows no spring, where only steel and silver sing, they made us dance until we dropped, and the music of the jackhammers finally stopped, i caught a cinder in my eye, searching for a patch of sky, but the shadows drizzed down like in pompeii, that's how i spent my yesterday, searching for america, in the rivets and the rust, searching for america, finding only dust, what did you see that made you cry, and left these trackmarks on your eye, what did you find while you were there, that sucks the light out of the morning air, they gave us each a cropper's shack, and land so hard it broke the back, then fed us 'til our bellies burst, on promises that died at birth, so i lay the baby out each dawn, inbetween the tender corn, with sunrise for her bonnet, and flies her only blanket, we harvested until we bled, 'til every single root ran red, and when the work was finally done, they gave our names to immigration, i did not know how bad it hurt, until i lay there eating dirt, and the cold seeped in between my bones, that's where i was when i left home, searching for america, all her dreams and hopes, searching for america, finding only ghosts, who are these people you have seen, to dream this dark and distant dream, to tell the stories you have told, to leave these bruises on your soul, they are the flesh, they are the bone, they are the very cornerstone, they leave their mansions and their shacks, to hide here inbetween the cracks, their hope is tattooed on my lips, bleeding from my fingertips, they are crawling toward the promised land, hand over hand, to walk until they run no more, and wash up on some distant shore, where truth is not the enemy, and whatever does not kill us, sets us free, somewhere out there, are millions just like me, homesick for eden, heartsick at the memory, searching for america, in every stick and stone, searching for america, going home, searching for america, going home