Friends from Ohio

I Saw the Lights Go Out

I saw the lights go out one day,
It used to be there was no way,
No way to end the walls that rich men build,
To keep our children safe, to keep our coffers filled.

I saw the light go out of day,
And there was nothing in the way
She said goodbye to make me think,
Nothing in the way the sun began to sink.

I thought I wrote a song about it,
Called the things of the past,
I thought I told you all about it,
These things cannot last.

We try to frighten them away,
But there is nothing we can say,
To change the hunger they see in their child’s eye,
It’s nothing new, and nothing’s blue when you see it in the sky.

I thought I wrote a song about it,
It’s like a bird that cannot fly,
Don’t think I could be wrong about it,
It’s what you see in your eye.
It’s what you see in your eye.
It’s what you see in your eye.

by George Downey  2003