Paul Simon - Wartime Prayers lyrics

Prayers offered in times of
Peace are silent conversations
Appeals for love or love's release
In private invocations
But all that is changed now
Gone like a memory from the
Day before the fires
People hungry for the voice of
God hear lunatics and liars wartime prayers
Wartime prayers in every language spoken
For every family scattered and broken

Because you cannot walk with the holy
If you're just a halfway decent man
But, I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind
With a genius marketing plan
I'm trying to tap into some wisdom
Even a little drop would do
I want to rid my heart of envy
And cleanse my soul of
Rage before I'm through

Times are hard, it's a hard time
But everybody knows all about hard times
The thing is, what are you going to do?
Will you cry and try to muscle through?
And try to rearrange your stuff?
But when the wounds are deep enough
And it's all that we can bear
We wrap ourselves in prayer

Because you cannot walk with the holy
If you're just a halfway decent man
But, I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind
With a genius marketing plan
I'm trying to tap into some wisdom
Even a little drop would do
I want to rid my heart of envy
And cleanse my soul of
Rage before I'm through

A mother murmurs in twilight sleep
And draws her babies closer
With hush-a-byes for sleepy eyes
And kisses on the shoulder
To drive away despair
She sends a wartime prayer