St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church Blues

Stained-glass and the choir sing out

That strong and ceaseless chorus here

So sweet the voices

sweep like

Leaves into the street

on Easter

A celebration

carried on

For God and hope and refuge

To keep each other

life

Give shelter from the storm (And keep warm)

The congregation gathers

Outside in the parking lot

Each service done

they keep the old hymn

Rolling on and on

and

I see the scene in color each day

Driving out to Eastown

That old abandoned church

And have I gone the same sad way?

Have I gone the same sad way?

Through the sixties flourished

And the seventies did flux

The eighties fluctuate each year

Unclear when the money would dry up

And when the nineties

Violent crime and rising

Unemployment rates came by

That parking lot grew dim and thin

Of sinners and saints

Until the voices

Unceasing

slowly faded to black

Until the weeds stormed the concrete

From unattended cracks

It had to know

had to feel that glory

Never coming back

Like I could feel it when the passion left

The last of what I had

It had to know

Like I knew

And I can't find it back

Might not ever

Ten years now

standing vacant

Ten years on empty

maybe more

Once held the faith of hundreds

Soon one more cell phone store

For years

they gathered here

Inside the building

sound and true

To sing their praises to a god

That gave them hope

to carry on

To carry through

So I've been thinking about that

Sometimes go slow when I drive by

How a home of stone and a house so holy

Grows so empty over time

What gave those people purpose

Past death approaching constantly

Now left to crumble slowly

Now left to wither with the weeds

Now left to ice and vandals

The advent candles long since gone

The old foundation shifting hard

The concrete overgrown

but

That stained-glass window

Sits untouched amongst the brickwork worn

A symbol of the beauty

Only perfect at that moment we were born

And just the other day

I swear I saw a man there

Pulling weeds out of the concrete

Sweeping up and patching cracks

I saw him lift a rag to

Wash the years of

Filth from off those windows

Made me wonder if there's

Anyone like that

For you and me

And anybody else

Who broke and lost hope