Not sure of the title. Freshly written on a dark subject matter. i dunno why I wrote it, just did. Actually, I just started with a line and a tune, and I think it wrote itself. It's about someone who was hanged for a crime they didn't commit. Nobody real in mind. As I wrote it, I wanted it more of a "story" than being preachy about capital punishment.
YOU HELD YOUR TONGUE
This travesty of justice
Is stained with rusty tears
The truth was there before your eyes
A shadow on your fear
The trap door sprang
The body fell
A final rasping breath
A troubled man
Who couldn’t help
But plead his way to death
And you
You just stood by
You didn’t try
To right the wrong
Yes you
You could have saved
Him from the grave
But held your tongue
They came for him at twilight
So certain of his guilt
The circumstantial evidence
Was all the case they built
The hammer fell
Upon his plea
His lawyer said to take
“You might as well
Not fight; you see
Their minds have all been made”
But you
You just stood by
You kept the lie
Within your soul
Cos you
Had built a cage
Around your rage
You let him go
Would the world have listened to you?
Now you’ll never know
Cry your empty tears. You know you
Could have saved his soul
It’s true
You just stood by
And watched him die
When all along
It was you!
Who took the life
You held the knife
And held your tongue
You blinked your eyes
And he was gone…