Ballad of Martin Luther King

In the cool lovin' evenin'
In a tensioned southern town
A useless bully was fought
And a great man was down

Oh death had come
To take him away
He was done with the troubles of this world
And the toils of his day

The winds began to blow
To cover his footprints in the sand
And slowly they vanished
With the aid of an eroding rain

But no wind or no rain
Could begin to start
To remove the imprints which he made
In each and every man's heart

And suddenly men everywhere
They stopped to look within
Oh now that his work had ended
They had now to begin

It's been much time marching
Singing "We Shall Overcome"
He spent his life trying to do
What we long since should have done

Now we who live in the land of the free
And the home of the brave
We won them now, we search now
'Bout the land which we must save

It was on the steps of the great Memorial
At the top of his voice he screamed
With faith in God and humanity
Said: I have a dream

It was a dream that had come from above
And it'd lodged deep within
It was a dream that a man could be free
Regardless of the color of his skin

And maybe he was like Moses
Who led the children to the promised land
But who could not go there himself
And stood with the rod in his hand

And if we are like the children of Israel
We are grieved but we must go on
To inhabit God's promised [land]
Though the journey has been weary and long

And now that the task is ours
We march on with that light
We go forth to finish the task
For which a man has given his life

In the name of God
In the name of God
We go forth