Anaïs Mitchell
Quecreek Flood
it was late in july at the quecreek coal minewhen the water came rolling downas black as bad blood to where nine good men stoodshuddering, shivering, shouting for deliverancesure they would drown and safe above ground, the boss paced aroundsurveying the scene of the floodafter chasing away the UMWAso inspections were cheap- still he didn't lose sleephe just stood in the sun- "what could we have done?"he said, "this was an act of god" and the president came from his party campaignto shake every hero's right handafter slashing the funds for the miners' black lungsand the regulations- "god bless our nation," he said,"united we stand" and the anchorgirl cried when the miners survivedshe lauded her god in his gloryand the tired cameraman packed up the vanand they wore the same frown as they drove out of townwhere they found the next sellable story and we who were raised by invisible handsand we who were raised on government lieswe prodigal children of the promiseland who's gonna open our eyes?
Aus Songtexte Mania