Lyrics

HAND OF DESOLATION

[intro]
He came out here with shining dreams
Freedom on bright prairie
Just a man of modest means
Out beyond Missouri

Rough board house and rusted truck
No money for a wedding ring
Stout woman and steely hope
Life was good, it seemed
Plenty of tomorrows
Dirt was dark and rich
Land lay deep and fallow
Crops would spring up quick

But too many people came
Tearing at this ground
Never thought about the danger
Savin’ what they found

[chorus]
Hand of desolation
Life beyond his reach
Hand of desolation
No place to retreat
Hand of desolation
Barely alive
Hand of desolation
Cursing at broad sky

Earth is tired under his feet
Wind is dry and lonesome
Dust strangles the buckeyes
Broken clay like shattered bone
Holes and cracks shot through his boots
Children cry for milk
Death, a smiling demon crouching
On a window sill

Can’t think about his troubles
Broken stalks of corn
Mouths to feed like baby birds
Always hungry, needing more

[chorus]

Took just about ten years for those
Black storms to subside
Government laid down the law
Nothin’ left to try
Lost and homeless pulled up stakes
Dyin’ slow and long
Starvation is true poverty
Cannot carry on

He came out here with shining dreams
Freedom on bright prairie
Just a man of modest means
Out beyond Missouri…

© 2015 Michael Henchman