State / Conscience - Echoes of Thoreau III

[VERSE 1] Men do not gather only to be many They gather for shelter for measure for mercy in the law So bread stays in a child’s small hand So the weak are spared So night may close without fear at the door From common will a structure rises And men give it a name The State A noble design at dawn To turn loose fear into shared calm [VERSE 2] Yet all things shaped by human hands May cast a shadow larger than themselves A house is built to hold a life Yet may imprison the life inside A ship is built to cross the sea Yet without a hand upon the wheel It sinks not by storm But by its weight So too the State Made for man May stand above him [CHORUS] Law asks for order Conscience asks for truth When they walk together A people breathe When they divide The heart is torn Some judgments fade on paper Some burn within the soul [VERSE 3] Those who first hear this danger Are seldom crowds But quiet men For noise keeps man from hearing man Applause can fall between thought and thought But conscience never shouts It leans close It whispers And life’s most urgent warnings Often arrive that way [VERSE 4] No tool should rule the hand that forged it The axe is no lord of the woodsman The pen must not reign above the writer When the State climbs high above the citizen It does not ripen It grows hard Power may swell Virtue may not A tower raised to heaven Does not lift the justice within [CHORUS] Law asks for order Conscience asks for truth When they walk together A people breathe When they divide The heart is torn Some judgments fade on paper Some burn within the soul [VERSE 5] Law often loves arrangement Conscience loves the right When both face one horizon Peace lies down at night When both turn opposite ways A man is split in two Outside waits obedience Inside rises no And bitter are the hours Between those voices [VERSE 6] Many through the ages Seemed righteous in the square Only because punishment Was standing there But order born of terror Falls when guards are gone True justice starts When a man alone Still blushes before wrong If unseen hands withdraw From what they could have taken Then there begins a people [VERSE 7] A nation may have courts Yet lack a conscience Then judgments remain unfinished It may have armies Yet lack compassion Then strength remains unproven It may have laws Yet lack fairness Then pages carry ink alone How often men defend great wrongs With flawless words And polished tone [BRIDGE] I knew men in town Who thought the State was like the sky Always above always vast untouchable But it is only a roof Built by mortal hands A roof may keep the rain away It does not own the sun If bent straighten it If broken mend it Those who call it sacred Often flee their duty [VERSE 8] If conscience has lost rule within No outer system can be whole For evil is not born in offices alone It grows where character Finds excuse Many cruelties begin As a sentence softly said Everyone does it It was not my choice I was told And with such words A man puts chains upon his inner judge [VERSE 9] Conscience may cost dearly It unsettles comfort Narrows circles Dims the love of crowds A man may stand alone For speaking what is right Yet praised inside the wrong Is lonelier still Than silence beside truth [VERSE 10] Some think conscience gentle Soft as rain But true conscience Is a difficult steel It does not bend a man It keeps him straight It does not kneel before profit It does not bargain with fear What grants the pillow peace Is not the outer calm But inward honesty [VERSE 11] The greatness of a people Is not in roads alone Nor towers nor armies nor stone But how it treats the weakest How dissent may safely speak How faults may be admitted How pride learns to kneel Power is easy Justice is hard [VERSE 12] Here beside the lake I heard less of the State Than of the wind Yet conscience spoke more clearly Nature does not govern man It shows him If water bends Its image breaks If the inward line is crooked Order breaks Simple Deep [FINAL VERSE] At evening in the town Lamps were lit Seals were pressed Decisions written down Here the lake grew dark And stars came out Then I understood Some judgments rest on paper Some awaken in the chest If one day law and conscience Stand opposed Ask truth before anger For anger sees short Crowds can turn Power grows drunk But a conscience long unburied Usually knows the road [OUTRO] Some judgments fade on paper Some live within