The Good Earth

When I was a child and the road was dark and the way was long and alone

My heart would lift as I turned the bend and saw the lights of home

Now high above in a silent sky

In a still and starry space

A man looks down on the earth below

And that blue and green and shining glow

To him is the lights of home

It's the good earth, yes the good earth

It's a land of sun and rain and snow

And mulberry trees and mistletoe

And burning plains and raging seas

And Sunday morning taking your ease

Watching your children grow

It's the good earth, yes the good earth

Where we fought and loved and killed and died

And ruined and ravished the countryside

But now, from a million miles away

From another world that's cold and gray

Someone is able to look and say

"That's the good earth."

So isn't it time we stopped the tears?

We've lived together for thousands of years

And whether I'm wrong, and whether you're right

Whether you're black, and whether I'm white

One day we'll stand on the edge of the world

And someone will ask us the land of our birth

And we'll look into his eyes and quietly say:

"It's the good earth, yes the good earth."

Why can't we be good on the good earth?