above the tears

Equality? (in death)

Equality? (in death)

A man dies

Lost and forlorn,

his family mourns at his passing

"He was a good man,"

close friends say,

"we're going to miss him."

They shake their heads in disbelief.

"It's hard to believe he's gone."

And so the story ends.

A president dies

Shocked and lost,

a nation comes to a standstill

"He was a good man,"

say friends and enemies both,

"a credit to the human race."

They shake their heads and cry.

Wondering why great men have to die

Yet his name lives on

In history

In the hearts and minds

Of millions

What is the difference?

Are not all men created equal?

What puts some men on a throne,

while others bow at his feet?

In life,

one may be greater

due to material wealth,

or family birthright

Never to know

of the day to day struggles

of those who are less fortunate

Yet in passing,

do we not all meet the same end?

We were born equal

and we meet our maker on the same level

There are not two heavens,

one for those who have,

one for those who have not

There is but one heaven

Where all men

Commoners

The rich

The famous

The powerful

All stand side by side

Equality

In death

(this is based on one of the first songs i ever wrote, in the early 1970s)