Dream Again - David Wilcox

We had time to dream

Our huckleberry glide downstream

That’s the way it seemed

Time was cheap as gasoline

Old Route 66

Through the sticks

Was our magic carpet

How we used to fly and not look down

Far across the seas

The history of the ancient empires

(We were)

Earning our degrees

We’d study hard to stoke our own fires

So summer we could fly

You and I

With our headphones blaring

Whistling through the fallen ruins of Rome

I know we’re not at peace

Coming back across our border

Security police

Change the homeland threat to orange

Remember back when we were the free

And the hopeful nation

Home from our vacation

Toe that line

I got no time to rest

Search for work in Carolina

We used to make the best

Now they ship that stuff from China

Factories closing down

Left this town

With our homeless shelters and

Blankets in the dirt when gates get closed

Ashes in the dust

Must have been their campfire burning

It’s boom until it’s bust

That’s the lesson we’ve been learning

Through our glory days

All ablaze

With our pride and promise

We never saw the ways it all burns down

We’re leaving here tonight

Walk the rails across that river

On the other side

All the future can deliver

Across this great divide

River’s wide

Where the future’s waiting

If I can just decide to leave the past

(Come on)

It’s who we’ve always been

The land of dreams and visionaries

The frontier starts again

Make our way with what we carry

The journey is from here

Hope or fear

For our children’s children

We are the pioneers

We have a dream again