The Old Wheel Turns

In a New York court, the ceiling was high Twelve silent faces watched the days go by Thirty-four times, the clerk did read A seed of trouble from a long-sown deed Of ledgers kept and secrets paid A former king, his fortunes swayed The jury left, and then returned With a lesson taught, a lesson learned. Oh, the old wheel turns, the story's spun Of a father's pride and a wayward son The scales of justice, heavy and slow

While the same old winds of trouble blow From the marbled halls to the border town Another story's going down. Down Delaware way, a different name Is caught inside a different game The President's boy, with a heavy past A shadow that was built to last A question asked on a government form A family's shelter in a public storm About a gun, and a time of pain While the world outside just feels the rain.

Oh, the old wheel turns, the story's spun Of a father's pride and a wayward son The scales of justice, heavy and slow While the same old winds of trouble blow From the marbled halls to the border town Another story's going down. The river runs a muddy thread Between the living and the hopeful dead A President signs with a worried hand To close the door on the promised land Two-thousand-five-hundred souls a day

Is the number that will turn them all away The gate is locked, the message plain Come back when it's sunny, if it ain't the rain. And the sun beats down on the thirsty ground I don't hear no new or different sound Just the same old song of power and might Of who is wrong and who is right I've seen this play a thousand times before With different names knocking on a different door. Oh, the old wheel turns, the story's spun Of a father's pride and a wayward son

The scales of justice, heavy and slow While the same old winds of trouble blow From the marbled halls to the border town Another story's going down.