Wednesday, April 19, 1995

    Words by Catherine Faber, music mostly* by Catherine Faber


The buildings we raise--there are few who recall
How heavy they are till in pieces they fall.
We searched for the living for hours, in dread
Of days yet to come when we'd search for the dead.

CHORUS (after every verse):

     Some died in their cars at the heart of the blast,
     Some died when their windows flung daggers of glass,
     Some died in the rubble, in darkness, alone,
     Rebar and concrete their coffin and stone...

Under the jumble that lay as it fell,
We ducked in the dark and we crawled into hell
Of dust, powdered sheetrock, crushed concrete and blood,
Of slime where the rain fell and turned it to mud.

Some we found hours past needing to free.
Some we found prisoned by tons of debris.
We levered them out, but the cutting was grim--
Sometimes the rubble, but sometimes the limb.

Worst were the children, so still, in the rain.
Blood spilled like fingerpaint, scarlet as pain.
Like dolls they lay broken, with mud in their hair,
So easy to lift---but so heavy to bear.

The killers would see, did they pause and look back,
The blood of the innocent cries from their track.
Hard as they run, they will find in the end
Hell cannot hide them, nor Heaven defend!


*Cat says, "The reason the music is 'mostly' by me is that the
tune of the verse is very similar to a folk hymn (Appalachian, I
think) called I Wonder as I Wander.  This strikes me as
appropriate, and I don't intend to change it."
This song commemorates the bombing of the Federal Building in
Oklahoma City by terrorists.

Words and music copyright (c) 1995 by Catherine Faber
On UNDER THE GRIPPING BEAST CD, copyright (c) 1997 by Catherine
Faber