Our Lady of Monroe

[Verse 1]

He's out of Newark, a retired detective

Tryin' to lose some of what he'd seen

He had twenty-five years on the streets

Where the Lord does not intervene

Packed his shaving kit into a small suitcase

Slipped the rosary off the night shelf

Just the cross remains of his faith

Was all that he had left

[Chorus]

And the pale sun of the evenin'

Cut through the windshield as he drove

Head south on thе Jersey Turnpike

To thе Lady of Monroe

[Verse 2]

He and his wife, they'd raised a daughter

But his job was all he'd ever really known

Now she was in southern Indiana

With a family of her own

As the refinery fields went rushin' by

Thought of his little brown-eyed girl

Shootin' cans in the river with his old .22

As the summer trees unfurled

[Chorus]

And the pale sun of the evening

Slipped down, velvet and low

Heard murmured prayers softly rising

To the Lady of Monroe

[Verse 3]

His rosary hung from the rear-view mirror

A map 'neath the Burger King bag in the front seat

His gun's tucked deep in the glove box

Another useless tool of his trade he'll never need

From his desk in the south precinct

He'd walked that dirty mile

Well, that was all over now

He was gonna learn to live, just to live for a while

[Chorus]

Virgin Mother, give me peace

Peace I've never known

In the sunlight, lifted hands softly swayin'

To our Lady of Monroe