The Great American Lament, Amos exhortation. (Remastered)

(Verse 1: The Description) The virgin nation falls, a shadow on the hill, With towers built of hewn stone, but hollow at the sill. The gates are filled with bribes where the truth is cast aside, And justice turns to wormwood in the rising of the tide. The needy are but dust beneath a golden, heavy heel, While we feast in solemn halls and forget the common real. We sing our songs of freedom with a cold and distant heart, While the gap between the mansions and the streets is torn apart. (Chorus: The Warning) Woe to those who long for the coming of the Day, It’s a darkness, not a light, if you do not change your way. Like a man who flees a lion just to meet a hungry bear, Judgment comes for those who have a hollow, religious glare. I hate your noisy festivals, I despise your hollow praise, If you do not seek the good and mend your crooked ways. (Verse 2: The Hopeful Resolution) But there is a ancient path that leads back to the light, A promise for the broken in the middle of the night. "If My people, called by My name, will humble and will pray, I will hear them from the heavens and I’ll wash their sins away". "Seek Me and you shall live," says the One who made the stars, The One who heals the nations and can mend our deepest scars. "Stop the noise of empty harps, let your mercy overflow, Until justice is a river and your righteousness can grow". (Bridge: The Action) "Wash and cleanse your hands, put your evil deeds from sight, Defend the fatherless and stand for what is right. Correct the one who crushes, bring the widow’s cause to light, And walk with humble kindness in the Creator's holy sight". (Outro: The Vision) Until justice rolls like water, a mighty, rushing stream, Not a seasonal dry bed or a politician’s dream. "Seek the good and not the evil, establish justice in the gate, For the God of Hosts may spare you from the coming day of fate".