I cross the green mount ain I sit by the s tream
Heaven blazing in my head I dreamt a monstrous dream
Something came u p out of the sea
Swept through the l and of th e rich and th e free
I look into the ey es of my merciful fr iend
And then i ask mys elf is this the end?
Memories ling er sad yet sweet and I
th ink of the so uls in heaven who will meet
Altars are bu rning with flames far an d wide
The foe has crossed o ver from the other side
They tip their ca ps from the top of the hill
You can feel them c ome more brave blood to s pill
Along the dim At lantic lin e
the ravaged la nd lies for miles be hind
The light's coming for ward and the streets are br oad
All must yie ld to the avenging God
The world is o ld the world is g ray
Lessons of lif e can't be learned in a day
I watch and I wa it and I listen while I s tand
To the music that co mes from a far-better l and
Close the eyes of our c aptain peace may he k now
His long night is do ne the great leader is la id low
He was ready to fa ll he was quick to defend
Killed outright he was by his own men
It's the last day's last hour of the last happy year
I feel that the unkn own world is so n ear
Pride will vani sh and glory will rot
But virtue liv es and cannot be fo rgot
The bells of leavening have run g
There's blasphe my on every tong ue
Let 'em say that I wa lked in fair nature's lig ht
And that I was lo yal to truth and to right
Serve God and be chee rful look upward be yond
Beyond the darkness of m asks the surprises of daw n
In the deep green gra sses of the blood stained world
They never dreamed of surren derin' they fell where the y stood
Stars fell over Alab ama I saw each s tar
You're walkin' in dre ams whoever you are
Chilled are the sk ies keen as the frost
The ground's froze ha rd and the morning is lost
A letter to moth er came toda y
Gunshot wound to the br east is what it did say
But he'll be better s oon he's in a hospital be d
But he'll never be bet ter - he's alrea dy dead
I'm ten miles outs ide the city and I'm lifted away
In an ancient lig ht that is not of d ay
They were calm they were blunt we knew 'em all too w ell
We loved each other more than we ever dared to tell