Breaking the silence

I hear some distant drumbeat
A heartbeat pulsing low
Is it coming from within?
A heartbeat I don't know
A troubled soul knows no peace
A dark and poisoned pool
Of liberty now lost
A pawn, an oppressor's tool

Oh, my heart be strong
And guide when eyes grow dim
When ears grow deaf with empty words
When I know there's life within

A gunfire shatters silence
Where birds once sweetly sang
A mother cradles a child now dead
Now death where life began
From the troubled heart of South Africa
Nicaragua's festering sore
The turmoil on the streets of China
Death crying out for more

And oh, my heart be strong
And guide when eyes grow dim
When ears grow deaf with empty words
When I know there's life within

A change is slowly coming
My eyes can scarcely see
The rays of hope come streaming
Through the smoke of apathy

Oh, my heart be strong
And guide when eyes grow dim
When ears grow deaf with empty words
When I know there's life within

May the spirit never die
A troubled heart feels pain
When this long winter is all over
It will blossom once again