Alabama

Alabama

Alabama

In the year 63 we heard a distant cry

Raging madness

Helpless sadness

And a voice choked with dismay

Asking why

We stopped breathing

We were listening

And the walls they resonate

With deep silence forever

Alabama

Someone joined in

Started singing

With his fingers

Sliding over his instrument

Took the grief in

With humility

At the sound of his horn

The room fell silent

He was breathing

We were listening

And the walls they resonate

With deep silence forever

Alabama

Whispered sighs in

Broken phrases

Stretching out

The warming blanket of compassion

Wisps of scales in

Broken melodies

Sounds that rouse

The minds of a new generation

And we're breathing

And we're listening

And the music lingers on

In deep silence forever

Alabama