Prayers offered in times of peace are silent conversations,
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Appeals for love or loves release, in private invocations.
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But all that is changed now,
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Gone like a memory from the day before the fires.
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People hungry for the voice of God
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Hear lunatics and liars
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Wartime prayers, wartime prayers
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In every language spoken,
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For every family scattered and broken.
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Because you cannot walk with the holy,
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If you're just a halfway decent man.
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But I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind
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With a genious marketing plan.
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I'm trying to tap into some wisdom,
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Even a little drop would do.
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I want to rid my heart of envy
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And cleanse my soul of rage
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Before I feel.
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Times are hard, hard times,
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But everybody knows all about hard times.
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The thing is, what are you gonna do?
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Will you cry?
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And try to muscle through?
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And try to rearrange your stuff?
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But when the wounds are deep enough,
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And it's all that we can bear,
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We wrap ourselves in prayer.
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Because you cannot walk with the holy,
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If you're just a halfway decent man.
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But I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind
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With a genious marketing plan.
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I'm trying to tap into some wisdom,
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Even a little drop would do.
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I want to rid my heart of envy
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And cleanse my soul of rage
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Before I'm through.
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A mother murmurs in twilight sleep
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And draws her babies closer.
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With hush-a-bies for sleepy eyes,
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And kisses on the shoulder.
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To drive away despair
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She sends a wartime prayer.
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Wartime Prayers
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Paul Simon |