Sweet By And By

A child wakes alone in the dark and cold

Her dirty face is hard for all of ten years old

Her skinny body cries that it’s tired and sore

But her life depends on getting out the door

She’s learned that food is easier to find

Since she came to live at the dump

There’s no time to waste, she’s got to get in line

In case their hiring down at the village pump

In another world kids pile out the door

The sun is shining like a pearl in the sky

They laugh and sing, “Let freedom ring,

In the sweet by and by”

The old man’s leather face sighs a weathered grin

Don’t matter where you go, no matter where I’ve been

The rich and strong don’t care which of us lives or dies

The only rule is, they’re never satisfied

Some take with the end of a gun

Some take with the law

They take care of their’s, they’re not about to share

With a sorry fool sleeping on a bed of straw

I used to dream a beautiful dream

The sun was shining like a pearl in the sky

I’d laugh and sing, “Let freedom ring,

In the sweet by and by”

Dreams are elbowed aside by ambition’s push

The joyride is stalled in the rush hour crush

Peace and quiet drowned out by the jackhammer noise

Everybody wants to own the latest weapons and toys

Life in the winner’s circle and the fast lane’s the new religion we’re told

The news is not so good in the endless line

Of folks left stranded on the side of the road

Where it’s hard to see as the traffic cruises by

The sun shining like a pearl in the sky

To laugh and sing, “Let freedom ring,

In the sweet by and by”