The Ballad of the Twenty-Fourth Year

In Washington, the robes of black Ponder words you can't take back On a screen that glows so bright and cold A new town square, a story told Florida, Texas, they drew a line Said 'You can't censor what is mine' But the high court asks with furrowed brow Who holds the speaker's gavel now? Oh, the headlines spin a modern yarn Of the courthouse steps and the burning barn But the weary traveler knows the tune

Beneath this brand new, troubled moon The river flows, the wind still blows It's the same old seed, just a different rose Down in 'Bama, a hopeful prayer In a frozen glass, held with such care A chance for life, a family's dream Becomes a judge's solemn theme They ruled an embryo, a child to be And locked the doors of the IVF The cradle waits, the science stalls When a gavel's echo shakes the halls

Oh, the headlines spin a modern yarn Of the courthouse steps and the burning barn But the weary traveler knows the tune Beneath this brand new, troubled moon The river flows, the wind still blows It's the same old seed, just a different rose The Panhandle sky is choked with smoke A rancher's heart is cracked and broke The Smokehouse Creek, a fiery wave Takes all the futures they tried to save The cattle lost, the fences melt

A sorrow that our fathers felt When dust and fire claimed the plain And all you do is pray for rain From silicon to a mother's tear From prairie fire to whispered fear The names all change, the tools are new But the human heart must struggle through The same old fights, the same old plight To find some truth and seek the light Oh, the headlines spin a modern yarn Of the courthouse steps and the burning barn

But the weary traveler knows the tune Beneath this brand new, troubled moon The river flows, the wind still blows It's the same old seed, just a different rose