From the jungles of Central America to the deserts of the Middle East, Empire marches on.
Emblematic of the era of the late 1980s, eight martyrs became symbols of our terrorist campaign – and of the existence of the infamous School Of the Americas (the Panamanians, when it was located in their territory, referred to it as the “School Of the Assassins”), a training institution for, among other esoteric fare, “enhanced interrogation techniques”.)
A contract was put out on the Dean of the American University in San Salvador, Fr. Ignacio Ellacuría, for he believed that the University had an obligation, no only to its students, but to the dispossessed, the voiceless – to do the work of Christ. As no witnesses were to be left, five other priests, their cook and her daughter were brutally slain.
And on that fateful night, eight new stars appeared in the heavens — tears from the eyes of God....
[Chorus]:
Lágrimas brotan de los ojos de Dios
Al suelo del jardín del cielo;
Ya crecen las flores de luz
En el nombre de nuestro Señor Jesús.
[Tears fall from the eyes of God, onto the soil of the garden of the heavens.
Now the flowers of light grow in the name of our Lord, Jesus.]
November sixteen, nineteen eighty-nine,
Eight precious children of God
Were visited by death at their government’s hand
Spilling blood where their humble feet had trod.
Blood flowed like fire into the rivers of the night,
Coursing through lands near and far,
Warming the passions of those who seek justice,
Shining with the radiance of a star!
In the heavens of our dreams God shed a tear
Which blossomed like a flower in the sky;
Seven teardrops more lit the velvet of the night,
Flowers in the fields where they lie.
[Chorus]
Now let us call, “¡Presente!”
After each precious name, “¡Presente!”
Celina, (“¡Presente!”)
After each precious name, “¡Presente!”
Celina, (“¡Presente!”)
Elba Julia, (“¡Presente!”)
Ignacio, (“¡Presente!”)
Amando, (“¡Presente!”)
Amando, (“¡Presente!”)
CONTINUE
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Joaquín, (“¡Presente!”)
Martín, (“¡Presente!”)
Segundo, (“¡Presente!”)
Juan Ramón, (“¡Presente!”)
[Chorus]
I had been away from my church for several months, but when the first Gulf War broke out (was orchestrated), and I found there would be a candlelight vigil there that evening, I knew I had to come home
It may be an old chestnut of a quote, but certainly rang true that night, as one fellow, on lighting his candle, said, "Better to light a candle than curse the darkness. Then, shamelessly cribbing, including a music line from Roger Whittaker’s “Last Farewell”, I wrote this song.
“Candle”
I’ll not curse the darkness. I will light this candle instead.
Illuminate the way, in O Lord, to Thee I cry.
I survey the starkness where the broken bodies lay and bled,
While armchair patriots cheer and applaud, I ask Thee why?
[CHORUS]
With the fire that this flame kindles
We must strengthen our resolve.
Not by our words, but by our actions,
May our nation, in God's eyes, be absolved.
I see pain and sorrow, smoke that casts a shroud beneath the sun;
Widows, orphans, plaintive infant cries pierce to the heart.
We must look toward the morrow, with one will begin the work that must be done.
Join our hands and hearts as we arise to make a new start.
I can see the dawning of a nation waging peace at length,
When poverty and hunger and war lie deep in the past.
We are the foundation; In forgiveness may we find our strength.
In God's love which doth command our hearts, may our lot be cast.
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