John Guliak

Lyrics

Emily

The day the plane arrived
South Indian Lake was alive with an ancient song
Then promises were made
There were lives there to be saved and brought to God
And saved and brought they were without a whisper or a word
They flew like birds
And still the elders search the sky through the tall and solid pine
For their return

Who are you Emily
What is the name that they hid
Who are the people they kept from your life
And where's your family
Among the dead and wasted
The hated and raped and tossed aside?

They wouldn't let you speak
Until The Word and kerosene had wiped you clean
And then the World War came along
And took the only man you loved away to sea
And then your children's haunted doorways
In those dark and drunken dog days
Would set the table
With more than one life's worth of bottles
Empty now but not forgotten

Who are you Emily
What is the name that they hid
Who are the people they kept from your life
And where's your family
Among the dead and wasted
The hated and raped and tossed aside?