JoA Pt. I

Paroles

There weren’t many people there Just echoes and folding chairs A guestbook full of empty lines And carnations past repair The preacher cleared his throat again Like God had missed His cue The stained glass threw a little light Across the empty pews No cameras in the parking lot No patriots in prayer Funny how the loudest men Were suddenly not there But that’s getting ahead of it That’s after all the noise Before the name became a headline He was just one of the boys We were raised beneath the steeples And the fireworks in July Where every cross came wrapped in a flag And nobody asked us why Long live the Jesus of America Patron saint of certainty The son of God and country In the land of the brave and free Long live the Jesus of America Learning every holy part They told him he was chosen So he learned the role by heart [Family Values] His daddy loved Jesus His mama wore bruises Nobody said a word His daddy led prayer His mama looked scared Nobody said a word Sunday morning hallelujah Monday evening slammed doors A boy learning power through The cracks in the floorboards His father folded hands in church Then made the whole house hold its breath A kingdom with a dinner bell And mercy scared to death We called it keeping order We called it private pain We called it biblical manhood With a prettier name Long live the Jesus of America Learning how the righteous stand Love is patient, love is kind But fear is how you make a man Long live the Jesus of America With the silence in his teeth They told him he was chosen So he learned what not to see His mama had a winter coat She wore into the spring Long sleeves in the summer heat And a smile for everything And every time she cried at night He stared into the wall Learning how to be a man By learning nothing at all He swore he’d never be his father With the certainty of youth But a ghost can wear your face sometimes And call its anger truth [God’s Country] One hand over our heart One hand covering our eyes God and country side by side Like twins in cheap disguise The world was ending every week At least that’s what they said So we spent our teenage summers Learning who to fear instead He wanted to be useful He wanted to be brave He wanted resurrection They handed him a grave The recruiter wore camouflage The preacher wore a tie They both promised he’d be chosen If he learned how to die We laid hands on his shoulders And we prayed the angels down Then sent him off with potluck food And applause from half the town Long live the Jesus of America Marching off to save the day Half disciple, half soldier Not yet knowing either way Long live the Jesus of America Rifle, rosary, and rank Learning every empire’s hymn Then calling it his thanks Long live the Jesus of America Getting smaller in the frame They told him he was chosen And he went to earn the name