Once I Had a Home - Eliza Gilkyson

Once I had a home

I still have the key

I take it everywhere I go

To prove that all I’ve said is so

And all the world can see

The walls were painted blue

The front door carved by hand

And generations of my kin

And strangers, all were welcomed in

When they walked upon my land

Pray for us all

And the nameless, the fallen

The faceless forgotten

Once I had a home

Olive trees once grew

Where mounds of rubble stand

A man can feel himself a king

When water flows from well and spring

And peaceful is the land

Pray for us all…

The stars shine down on bone and skin

On wire and walls that hold us in

On roads that can’t lead home again

Pray for us all…