MERCY 004 – Black Water Mississippi | The Mercy

(Verse 1) They reached the river road where all the mile signs drowned, And found the blackened water dragging dead towns down. The banks were lined with Paled beneath the cypress shade, Like judges of the crossings that the living made. (Verse 2) They built their rafts from shutters, doors, and broken beams, And pushed past church roofs rising through the flooded dreams. The ferrymen wore rifles and a scripture in their hand, And asked what any soul could pay to reach the other land. (Chorus) Black water Mississippi, carry them below, Past the drowned-out steeples where the cold reeds grow. Every crossing whispers what the living owe, To the pale dead watching where the dark tides flow. (Verse 3) A preacher blessed the barges from a half-sunk quay, And named the river mercy with a voice like broken clay. He said the dead were waiting where the floodlights failed, While hungry children listened and the night wind wailed. (Verse 4) They traded cans and cartridges for passage through the rain, Past buses in the shallows and the windows full of pain. No bell rang out from Memphis, no harbour answered clear, Only engines coughing through the smoke and fear. (Chorus) Black water Mississippi, carry them below, Past the drowned-out steeples where the cold reeds grow. Every crossing whispers what the living owe, To the pale dead watching where the dark tides flow. (Bridge) They were not saints or sinners, only strangers on a tide, With a river full of endings and no safe place to hide. Faith rode beside hunger where the salvage barges crept, And every soul kept bargaining with promises they kept. (Outro) So still the river gathers every ruin, oath, and name, Through the broken delta under skies of ash and flame. The living cross in silence where the old world bled, On black water Mississippi, past the kingdom of the dead.