Shibboleth

Treat me like dirt

I can take the hurt

As long as you say you love me

I will try to walk on water for you

All you need do is tread gently on me

I'll bear the burden of guilt for the world

The pain and the blame for all that goes wrong

No need for trickery to carry the load

Only too willingly I'll take it on



Couldn't you see I'd have walked through fire

Just to hear you speak my name

With the pride and the joy you used to show?



The words that we said have lost all sense

In the Babel that has engulfed me

Many are the voices saying different things

I can't hear my own in the din

Many are the lines to read between

And I seem suddenly to have lost my place

Even the unity that was your voice

Has shattered into barbs that pain me



Couldn't you see I'd have walked through fire

Just to hear you speak my name

With the pride and the joy you used to show?



Shibboleth, all meaning gone

Shibboleth, it's time to move on



Couldn't you see I'd have walked through fire

Just to hear you speak my name

With the pride and the joy you used to show?



The promises we made in faith have dissolved

In the flood of tears I have wept for you

The firm ground on which we used to stand

Submerged by your own knowing hand

Underwater held until it drowned

Only then 'Love' did you baptise it

And seek to return me to your arms

The fallen with garlands now re-crowned