We Were Never The Same

Brian Vander Ark

God saved the queen,
but he left you a dream
With your brave stuffed
in bellies of ships
that drifted in

The gate to the west
was wide open
This promised land
seemed an infinite land
And we nestled ourselves
in your arms
and the warmth of your skin
And that great western plain
was never the same again

It took years
to adjust to our freedom
The young and the proud,
how we wondered aloud
About brotherly love
and then push
comes to shove once again
No death in vain
But we were never
the same again

The sweat and the tears
of the formative years
The highways
were veins pumping life
to remains of the land
A new era began

They caught you in bed
with Miss Fortune
Poverty bound you were
stripped of your crown
All the storms
had been weathered
It brought us together again
And then September came
And we were never
the same again

Centuries passed
and you're still just a girl
But this last generation's
not long for this world
Who would rather remember
the 12th of September
We're all patriots
when the orange
of the embers still glow
I think that you know

That I'm telling you this
'cause I love you
I love that you're proud
But you're also too loud
So bring it down
to a whisper
And wait for the world
to lean in

And the home of the brave
Is etched
on the graves again

Remember their names
We were never the same