He was born on the Amber road,
By the way of the Baltic Sea
A frail little boy in 1914.
Winds of war rolled in from the west
To ravage the town of Kalisz
And nothing was left
When they finally did leave
Where can you go when nothing remains?
Nowhere to run from that kind of pain
He could have hardened his heart, let the bitterness sweep him away
But he found the strength of his God and forgave
Hosanna! hosanna! how can we treat each other the way that we do?
To the last blood he had to rise above,
How can we find the grace for that kind of love, that kind of love?
September of '39
There came a different wind
From the east and the west,
The nightmare began again
The beautiful land had become
Smokestacks and rivers of red
He stood at the threshold
With all of his friends
"Schema Yisrael, the Lord our God is one"
Was on his lips and then they were gone
Hosanna, hosanna, how can we treat each other the way that we do?
To the last blood he chose to rise above,
How can we find the grace for that kind of love?
Where were you when we walked in, and have we all been forsaken?
Have you let the darkness win after everything they've taken?
Not my will but yours be done, but if I could ask just one question
How could this be worth the price,
Why are the innocent always the sacrifice?
Hosanna, hosanna, how can we treat each other the way that we do?
Despised and rejected by men,
Acquainted with grief
A lamb to the slaughter was He
Over the forest and golden fields of Kalisz
A strange kind of ash floats towards the sea...