Why was I planted here?
A thorn in the world's side
Working stealthily
Until my time arrives
No one knows my real name
I'm a threat to all
Although I seem so tame
The quiet man who fixes the shoes
I await the call that awakens me
To my true purpose
I must never tell
Keep my secret well
Day by day I find
No one sees my mind
When they tell me that it's time
I won't have to act so kind
Then the world will know
These events will show
Who will win - who will lose
But for now I will hide
All this angst I have inside
And quietly repair their shoes

I was barely ten years old
Taken from my bed in the dark and the cold
From the other room I heard my mother scream
I wasn't quite sure if it was real or a dream
They said "listen boy you're a soldier now"
Like it or not this is how it's going to be

It's hard to know
Who is the enemy?
I search my soul

Months went by in the desert sea
Where holy men were training me
Pushed like a pawn in some great plan
I soon found myself in a foreign land
They said "Blend in well, you're a sleeper now.
You'll be contacted soon with the why and how".

I want to know
Who is the enemy?
I search my soul

I think about my family every day
The look on their faces as I was dragged away
I was an unwilling volunteer
Never told why they sent me here

I need to know
Who is the enemy?
I search my soul

I'm a lowly worker for very little pay
Have to get up early every day
Just to get some pennies in my hand

I made some new friends and they tell me
This is the land of opportunity
I could rise above if I make my stand

I could be a king in my new land
Could have everything in my new land
I could take some threads and make a coat,
Have my own shop and I could vote
I think I want to stay in my new land

I never knew that freedom could be so sweet
If I had a girl my life would be complete
We could walk the beaches, hand in hand

We could build a house with a white gate
I could walk the dog and we could stay up late
Bringing up the baby would be so grand

In my new land
In my new land
I could take some threads and make a coat,
Have my own shop and I could vote
I think I'll make a note to change my plan

I could be a king in my new land
Could have everything in my new land
Learning how to sing in my new land
My new land, my new land

While praying in the park today
The fairest girl did pass my way
I confess my mind did go astray
Another kind of heaven
I convinced myself it was ok
I could always pray another day
She was like a prayer anyway
A different path to heaven

I found my love
I did not expect it
I found my love
Days were turning into months soon after
I was living just to hear her laughter
Dancing in the park-the very spot
Where I used to pray
I admit that I did go astray
I knew there would be a price to pay

I found my love
I did not expect it
I found my love
Now I must protect it

I had the dream last evening
The Elders all were there
Cloaked in hooded garments
Electricity in their hair
They carried water candles
That flickered cobalt blue
And bedroom eyes could not disguise
The evil they would do
While looming in the distance
The silhouetted hills
Were hosting all the victims
And counting up the kills

The sunset streaked a vapor trail
Upon a water color sky
The night folded its wings around me
As I discovered I could fly
I soared above the houses
Through cotton candy skies
The frightened children watching
My image passed across their eyes
While screaming in their bedrooms
The women loved their pain
I lost my grip on heaven
And fell to earth again

The smell of fear engulfed me
It came down from on high
Although I tried to run away
My legs would not comply
I felt upon my shoulder
A bony lifeless hand
It churned a chill inside me
And made me understand
"Ignorance hides in the darkest places
And feeds its poison to its young
You'll wipe them from existence
You are the chosen one"

Somehow I escaped him
And headed for the sea
Across a field of broken mirrors
Reflecting everything but me
I walked across the water
And came upon a boat
Where Moses and Picasso
Were trying to stay afloat
One was painting flowers
The other skipping stones
When I asked them to explain
They cried, "Leave us alone!"

I hitchhiked back to Ixtlan
That painter stole my van
The locals in Atlantis
Were all working on their tan
And when I tried to warn them
My teeth fell from my mouth
A Snowstorm was approaching
So I headed south
The crowd had just descended
On the beach at Normandy
Where Hitler joined Queen Mary
To have a spot of tea

Now all of this confusion
Made perfect sense to me
It was a revelation
A truth I had to see
The Painter and the Prophet
Got married later on
And took their honeymoon
On the shores of Balaton
The water from the candles
Turned the Ocean cobalt blue
The burnt electric air
Gave my lungs a death tattoo

A wisp of wind, the rustle of leaves
A ghost-like movement among the trees
Thunder echoed in the distance
No compliance, no resistance
I arose to a day of conflict

A shattered dream by the telephone's ring
Words shake the cobwebs
Loose from my head
An exchange of words turned from green to red
And sparked a day of conflict

The heavens move like a film at high speed
While miles below
I'm feeling its pull
I try to resist but I'm swallowed up whole
Into the bowels of conflict

Electric air shocks the waves in my brain
A subtle effect from the wind and the rain
Thunder cracks open
A hole in the sky
To water the seed of conflict

A shattered dream by the telephone ring
Words shake the cobwebs
Loose from my head
I can only cling to the edge of my bed
And awake to a day of conflict

While working in my shop
I heard the doorbell chime
A stranger stood before me
A chill ran down my spine
He held a written notice
I knew at once was mine

A parched piece of paper
A code I recognized
I knew it was the order
Yet still I was surprised
I was waiting for this day
I was sure I would be fine

Why this feeling in my gut?
Why this reeling in my mind?

I mustn't show this messenger
Can't let on I'm insecure
In my homeland I was sure
I was chosen for this reason
Now I'm blind with thoughts of treason

My pounding heart, my palms are sweat
The time has come to pay my debt

I wish my god who guides my hand
Would strike me down now where I stand
For I must choose between my world
And what is now the foreign land

I was waiting for this day
I was sure I would be fine
I curse this feeling in my gut
Damn this reeling in my mind

Will this nausea subside?
Can I abide with this malign?

I wish my god who guides my hand
Would strike me down now where I stand
For I must choose between my world
And what's become the foreign land
What is now the foreign land

I.
I went with great reluctance
To meet with the strange man
He promised to reveal to me
A visionary plan
Where all the worlds injustice
And unfair cruelty
Would all at once be wiped away
What martyrs we would be

The building with the pillars
That housed the books of old
Would teach me of the chemistry
And tools that I must hold
A simple drop of water
The liquid gift of life
When altered with a genius spark
Will then cut like a knife

II.

The formula was simple
The plan a noble one
But when I studied further
I found a smoking gun
This was no simple terror act
Not like the ones we'd seen
The horror in this formula
No one could even dream

An unleashed chain reaction
Would change all oxygen
And all that does contain it
Into O3 poison.
The air would be like fire
The water like a fuel
The world would choke and sputter
With no one left to rule

I'm sure that they can't know this
It cannot be their plan
There must be some mistake here
I have to find that man
But when I ran to catch him
To tell of what I'd found
A stranger barked, "Stop! F.B.I!"
And threw me to the ground

III.

I awoke in darkness
My head was wracked with pain
But the case had been mishandled
And I was on the street again
I ran home to my woman
To ask what should I do
She also turned against me
She thinks I'm evil too
It seems the man had been there
And asked where I might be
He thinks I turned against him
He saw them arrest me
I'm feeling so alone now
The urge to run and hide
And all this primal anger
Now festers deep inside

IV.

My family is doomed now
As far as I can tell
The new life I have come to love
About to end as well
What's left now is this question
I'm forced to wonder why?
Why should I let the whole world live?
When I myself must die.

On Wall Street the players all practice the art of the deal
In L.A. the freeway puts drivers to sleep at the wheel
The hum of the jet planes that rattle the windows below
These people have so much to learn, but I will return

The priests and the teachers that violate their oath to serve
The stories in tabloids all seem to expose a raw nerve
The murder for money, the news a reality show
The kids watch the High Schools burn, yet I will return

High paid politicians that promise a world of relief
Their carefully chosen words hiding the plans of a thief
The popular President smiles and declares a new war
The pages of history turn, so I will return

A man in a prison found hanging alone in his cell
Had scratched on the walls a true story too gruesome to tell
His music touched millions but did he touch the children as well?
The courts of opinion adjourn, and I will return

The story repeated for forty days and forty nights
The faithful that followed them offered up earthly delights
The sirens were singing and bringing them all to the light
Religion is not my concern, though I will return

The hand of God has touched my soul
And showed me my true burden
For I know now what I must do
My purpose now is certain

I opened up my heart and soul
I found that love had trapped me
I'm not the man I thought I'd be
The hand of God has slapped me

I hold the key to life and death
For everything around me
No man has ever had such power
The hand of god has found me

The time has come, the gloves are off
Revenge will come in time
With no one left to tell the tale
The hand of God is mine

I could turn and walk away
Accept my own defeat
But If I use the Hand of God
My destiny is complete

I should turn and walk away
Exonerate the world's deceit
But If I choose this Hand of God
My destiny will be complete

The Hand of God?
This Hand of God?
My Hand of God!