No man, no madness
Though their sad power may prevail
Can possess, conquer, my country's heart
They rise to fail
She is eternal
Long before nations' lines were drawn
When no flags flew, when no armies stood
My land was born.
And you ask me why I love her
Through wars, death and despair.
She is the constant, we who don't care
And you wonder will I leave her -- but how?
I cross over borders but I'm still there now.
How can I leave her?
Where would I start?
Let man's petty nations tear themselves apart
My land's only borders lie around my heart.
So , I was listening to this song this morning......
....it's a few years since I heard it and as always I found myself crying. Though I don't cry easily (I am such a liar), this song is one I can never get through hearing or singing without choking up and swallowing my tears past a painful lump in my throat.
It is from a Musical named "Chess". In the show the song is sung by a Russian Chess player who is going to seek asylum, to defect, from the Soviet Union (anyone remember when people had to defect and beg to stay here or in Europe?).
But it seems particularly (Did you ever notice how I use the word particularly all the time? It's because I can't spell especially.)appropriate for the times we are living in.
No man, no madness
Though their sad power may prevail
Can possess, conquer, my country's heart
They rise to fail
She is eternal
Long before nations' lines were drawn
When no flags flew,
when no armies stood
My land was born.
And you ask me why I love her
Through wars, death
and despair.
She is the constant,
we who don't care.
And you wonder will I leave her -- but how?
I cross over borders but I'm still there now.
How can I leave her?
Where would I start?
Let man's petty nations tear themselves apart
My land's only borders lie around my heart.
"Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"