i stood up to write a poem about
this shit i heard the other day
but my heart became so heavy
i fell back, i couldn't find the words to say

bin laden had nothing to do with 9/11
or so says the CIA

so go ahead and look it up and tell me
just what we're supposed to do when
we can't trust the people we give power
the people we didn't really even choose

and if we can't trust them about that
can we trust them about this
when they tell us we need a new
flatscreen or fake tits
when they tell you that you ugly
inadequate or gay shit.

tell me why it's unamerican to want to
stop bein' a whore
cuz when you buy into this shit it looks
like you're selling something more

but wait-i love this country, i do. at least
i keep being told that.

i just wonder what's the price of freedom
that makes 'em hate us if that makes sense
how much do we really need 'em?

this shit we ingest daily
while we feed into the machine
that villainizes everyone that don't believe them
when they tell us what we need

yeah i'd like a new fucking ipod and i'd like
to eat some fucking meat
but compassion takes some sacrifice or
it ain't compassion. can't you see
that it takes nothing of yourself
to give what you just fuckin' got for free

freely you received, and freely give
what do you have that you've really earned?
work twelve hours, six, or none
doesn't change what you deserve
maybe if you were born down the fucking street
then you wouldn't have the nerve

to tell jesus that you're poor
that you can't spare a dollar today
that you have to buy it cheap because
ethics sure as hell don't pay
can i really say i'm poor when
my silver spoon it gets a chip?
and i'm not sayin give away your shit
oh wait that is what i'm tryin to say
jesus told you to fuckin' do it.
what's the delay?

do you think jesus would own an ipod
or go to war or vote for bush
would he wear clothes that're made by slaves
and i wonder would he push

a man he knows and loves and died for
into a lake of smoldering fire
i don't know or i wouldn't ask but
that's not the god for whom i perspire cuz

i'm workin out here trying to live this life
and it's work to not believe what you've been told
i don't believe that it takes money or status
or a woman or religion or hatred or judgement
to reach the fuckin' goal

cuz i'm content now with just
the beauty of the trees
and in our heartbeats and our souls
and sharing something real something
that you can't see on TV

it's love man. and that's the price
it's what it takes to do what's right
and you'll never find it on sale at kmart
sittin under the blue light

because there's nothing else so sacred
over which more righteous battles have been fought
so if you want to do anything that you think that jesus did
it's going to take some time, some money, some sacrifice,
if you want to do what's right it ain't gonna be easy
or convenient. it's gonna take all that you got.

don't stop walking

don't stop walking, and please start talking,
though we're in this together we can still be alone

if our voices aren't lifting
and just through sand we're sifting;
searching, seeking, uncover, and then you'll grow.

when they said what they did
and we tried not to listen,
when they wrote what they
wrote with a bone for a pen,
in a tomb, on a trail
and they knew what would glisten,
and it wasn't gold,
my friends,
it wasn't gold at all.

because he came and he served,
and he lived and he died,
and we didn't get it.
and we don't get it.
and we'll never get it
if we stop walking
if we stop talking.

if we're not lifting
our voices,
if we're not making
the choices

that we,
our generation,
has been called to make,

then we're raping our wives,
and car-bombing our hives,
and this bloodless
confrontation
will erupt with rage.

because we have the choice
and finally, we have the voice.
because for hundreds of years
it's been denied us,

and we have the teacher,
and when we become the preacher,
we can see for ourselves
that it's ok to trust.

and when they said what they did
and we tried not to listen,
and when they wrote what they wrote
with a bone for a pen,
in a tomb, on a trail,
fellas,
they knew what would glisten.
and my brothers,
it wasn't gold at all.

so now they're talking, and so are we.
and now we're listening intently.
and now we're walking alongside
those prophets of old.

so now their writings come alive
and we skip, and we turn, and we jive
and now we're walking alongside
those prophets of old.

and when we write magic words
that spill from our hearts,
who will need a bone or a pen?

in the halls, in a classroom,
people will start to listen
when jesus starts speaking from
the mouth of a man.

and i'm that man.
and you're that man.

because we haven't stopped walking,
and we haven't stopped talking,
and we'll never stop walking,
and we'll never stop talking.

free

there is so much more to life
than who is sleepin' by your side
there is so much more to know
than those tears you shed at night

why can't you see
can't you see
how beautiful you are
to Him and to me

and i know you know just how
poor those boys, they're treatin' you
from a fit of rage, then it comes late
you sink down to the deepest blue

why can't you see
can't you see
how beautiful you are
to Him and to me

and i know that your fighting with your past
and i know that you think that love can't last
but i also know there's one thing
that's never let me down
and it's the man wearing your thorns as His crown

so why can't you see
can't you see
how beautiful you are
to Him and to me

because if you could see
the way we see
you'd know how beautiful you are
and you'd be free