|
Chimes Of Freedom |
|
Far between sundown's finish an' midnight's broken toll |
|
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing |
|
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds |
|
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing |
|
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight |
|
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight |
|
An' for each an' ev'ry underdog soldier in the night |
|
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing. |
|
In the city's melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched |
|
With faces hidden while the walls were tightening |
|
As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin' rain |
|
Dissolved into the bells of the lightning |
|
Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake |
|
Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an' forsaked |
|
Tolling for the outcast, burnin' constantly at stake |
|
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing. |
|
Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail |
|
The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder |
|
That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze |
|
Leaving only bells of lightning and its thunder |
|
Striking for the gentle, striking for the kind |
|
Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind |
|
An' the unpawned painter behind beyond his rightful time |
|
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing. |
|
Through the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled tales |
|
For the disrobed faceless forms of no position |
|
Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts |
|
All down in taken-for-granted situations |
|
Tolling for the deaf an' blind, tolling for the mute |
|
Tolling for the mistreated, mateless mother, the mistitled prostitute |
|
For the misdemeanor outlaw, chased an' cheated by pursuit |
|
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing. |
|
Even though a cloud's white curtain in a far-off corner flashed |
|
An' the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting |
|
Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones |
|
Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting |
|
Tolling for the searching ones, on their speechless, seeking trail |
|
For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale |
|
An' for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail |
|
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing. |
|
Starry-eyed an' laughing as I recall when we were caught |
|
Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended |
|
As we listened one last time an' we watched with one last look |
|
Spellbound an' swallowed 'til the tolling ended |
|
Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed |
|
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an' worse |
|
An' for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe |
|
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing. |
