Choir of Ancestors

In the long line behind us of the fallen dominos
Are the faceless men and women
All the lives you will never know
In the darkest nights I live through
Hear them whisper in my dreams
"We are the oak of a thousand branches
And the roots have dug so deep"

Hold on through your desert
Oh hold on to the reins
Oh hold on to wonder
Our story in your veins

Once we were children
Above us burned the stars
And now we come to you in your darkest hour
As you are who we are

We would stare into our fires
As you have done tonight
Let the ashes know what's right
Then you can decide

"Hold on you know what we know
Your dreams are our own
You'll find out in time"

Oh hold on to memory
Hold on to the edge
Hold on to stories
The decision that you made

Oh find your direction
Oh hang on for your life
With yesterday just a blur or grey
Spinning in the wheels of time

The Great Wall of China
Is going to crumble in the end
And the graves that still surround it
Echo countless wasted men

In the brotherhood of factories
Where the bonds are forged in steel
By the hammer of redemption
In the fires of gasoline

So hold on to your brother
Hold on to your team
Oh fight your every hour 'cause
When it hurts you start to win

Oh hold on to something
You can do it if you try
There's a wedge between the will and when
But the walls are closing in

We were thrown out of our lives
And across a great divide
But as long as you hold on
You keep us alive