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Time Is An Ocean « See All Songs
Lyrics:SAL
I speak to you in Jesus’ name
As Jesus speaks through me
The evil we do can’t be blamed
Upon our destiny
I have walked through the valley of Death Row
To the shore
I have stumbled through silvery water
To my saviour, my Salvador
SALVADOR
It took me four years to learn
I was in prison, not in church
And two more to begin the book of my soul’s search
SAL AND SALVADOR
Time is an ocean of endless tears
SALVADOR
A wild boy from the streets of El Barrio
The orphan from the hills of Mayagüez
And when I wrote my story
The words flew from the page
And my soul in solitary
Escaped its iron cage
SAL AND SALVADOR
Time is an ocean of endless tears
SAL
Mama, I got your letter today
The next time that you write
I’ll be transferred far away
I’m leaving Green Haven’s towers of stone
Where the Latin population will soon be minus one
SAL AND ESMERALDA
Time is an ocean of endless tears
SAL
I know how hard it’s been for you these many years
You say the Aguinaldo
SAL AND SALVADOR
Makes you dream of home
SAL
Where once we strolled the beach
SAL AND SALVADOR
At El Malecón
SAL
Go back, don’t you worry
SAL AND SALVADOR
I am your grown-up son
SALVADOR
The politics of prison are a mirror of the street
The poor endure oppression
The police control the state
“Correctional facility”
That’s what they call this place
But look around and you will see
The politics of race
SAL
A forest and a prison
Where the snow and the guards are white
SALVADOR
If you want to keep your sanity
You’ll teach yourself to write
You were a child of sixteen
With a twelve-year-old mind
You came here, numb and battered
By the streets I left behind
SAL AND SALVADOR
I’ll take the evil in me
And turn it into good
Though all your institutions
Never thought I could
SAL
So now I turn to say good-bye
SALVADOR
I’ll keep your image in my eye
SAL AND SALVADOR
So now I turn to say good-bye
SALVADOR
I’ll keep your image with me
SAL AND SALVADOR
‘Til the day I die
ESMERALDA
Time is an ocean of endless tears
SALVADOR, ESMERALDA AND SAL
Time is an ocean of endless tears
Time is an ocean of endless tears
© 1997 Lyrics by Paul Simon and Derek Walcott