I’LL BE TRUE

Upon each man born many nets are flung
Of religion and language and state
But somehow I knew, from a dream came a clue
That no one but me could enslave me
Nothing moved me from the outer world
Unless echoed with cries from within
On the wisdom of priests I would no longer feast
I would learn what I could from within me
Opportunity of this lifetime, to be true

It was good to see everything everywhere
Only God, besides me, could do that
Angels of beauty and of wild youth
To wax and to wane and still win again
Through some art of my own or just through my life
As free and as fully I can
I will say what is true though my weapons be few
Here are those few I allow me:
Silence, separation, and cunning, to be true

Oh, art thou pale for weariness
Climbing heaven and gazing on earth
I was not myself then as you see me now
Not yet what I was becoming
Humbly, in tears, in a wild land
I bent down, kissed the drape of her sleeve
The end I will serve, I’ll work hard to deserve
By a path still unseen I may see her
To everything that’s coming to me, I’ll be true

You have made me confess all the fears I have
Now I’ll tell you what I do not fear:
Being alone or being left out
Or leaving whatever needs leaving
I will tell what I’ll do and what I’ll not do
I won’t follow what I can’t believe
Call it church, call it home, call it all that is known
I will not serve what I don’t believe in
Though great mistakes may last a lifetime, I’ll be true

The white arms of the road, the black arms of ships
They say, “We are your true kinsmen now”
As I draw from my heart what is needed to part
All that heaven and earth will allow me
So onward I go for the millionth time
I will be what I’m made of and more
To forge through my choice the still unheard voice
Of everything that’s come before me
Through some art or just this lifetime, I’ll be true

Upon each man born many nets are flung

A Song Can Tell A Story

When words leave off, music begins.

I’LL BE TRUE