All words and music copyright 2023, Paul O'Neil
Freedom Awaits
Blue morning sky, life floating by, covered with innocence you by my side
This is my home, all that I've known, warmed by the feeling I'm never alone
Whispers around me, sealing my fate with their breath
Freedom awaits me, but freedom will come with regret
The look on your face leaves me no trace, of hope that I'll never be leaving this place
The beauty I see was not meant for me, locked in my mind no longer free
Whispers around me, sealing my fate with their breath
Freedom awaits me, but freedom will come with regret
Dream a new dream, don't you want so much more?
Dream a new dream, live like never before
Dream a new dream, hunger nevermore
Dream a new dream, she waits at the shore
Never again to be there my friend, lost in my dreams of home
Whispers around me, sealing my fate with their breath
Freedom awaits me, but freedom will come with regret
Dream a new dream, you will have so much more
Dream a new dream, live like never before
Dream a new dream, hunger nevermore
Dream a new dream, she waits at the shore
A New Life
The fire is going out the day is done, talk to your mother you're the only one
Lately it's been hard to see tomorrow, yesterdays are always filled with sorrow
Hope and sadness are the same to me, trapped inside so deep that I can't see
Now you want to stay, but we must make you go, to find your path in ways you do not know
A new life is waiting, and it may not be better, promises are easy to believe
Friends you haven't met and children who await you
A new world is the promise, a new life is your fate, and we will never see you again
The ship is at the dock it's calling you, and no one is sure what they should do
The time has come for us to say goodbye and pray you won't look back and wonder why
A new life is waiting, and it may not be better, promises are easy to believe
Friends you haven't met and children who await you
A new world is the promise, a new life is your fate, and we will never see you again
We will never see you again
Land of Opportunity
Here I am in a crowd all on my own
Left behind everything I've ever known
There she stands reaching out to welcome me
In her hands is the light of liberty
In a land I've never seen, a land of opportunity
No one here can speak to me, so I fall down on my knees and I pray
Here we are at this grueling journey's end
Now we wait for the next one to begin
There we stand with our futures in the air
In their hands lies our comfort or despair
We are waiting in this hall for the names that will be called
Traded 20 days at sea for this endless sea of humanity
And so I wait ...
Our Eyes Meet
Our eyes meet for the first time
Two days before our happily ever after begins
Our hands touch for the first time
And here we stand, a promise to be faithful and love forever
Our hearts beat together for the first time
I'm married to a stranger living in a strange land
Our lives are brought together, not by love at all, but for a chance to find a better life
Our futures have been sealed within this box we cannot see inside
My choice fell away when I was promised as your bride
Our words hurt for the first time
You threw away our promise to each other, and now I feel so all alone
Our feet walk for the first time
Down selfish paths that lead to dissolution, and you will leave me on my own
I long for so much better, yearn for so much more, I settle for the mess we have created
To you I'm just an ordinary prop in an ordinary life
You are a chain that keeps me tethered by your side
Our eyes meet for the last time
Two days before you left this life forever, and now, oh now, for the last time
Oh now, for the first time, my future has begun
Immigrant Story
Our story was written by immigrants leaving their homes to find a new life
And now that we're here we deny the same rights to the people of the world
So many came on a journey so long and so hard to be free
To worship or speak or protest or just live a life without fear
Give me your tired, give me your poor, give me those yearning to breathe free
The promise is made, oppression will fade, here in the land of the free
In Friendship Park immigrants talk to their families through a wall
A pinky kiss is amargo y dulce but all that is allowed
The Door of Hope used to open for just a few moments once a year
Now this place of friendship and hope has become the Park of Tears
Give me your tired, give me your poor, give me those yearning to breathe free
The promise has changed, all seekers detained, no longer the land of the free
Are we trapped by our birth with no chance to better our lives, or do we possess
The right to depart from the country that chance, not choice, has placed us in?
Give me your tired, give me your poor, give me those yearning to breathe free
The promise has changed, all seekers detained, no longer the land of the free
Give me your tired, give me your poor, give me those yearning to breathe free
The promise is made, oppression will fade, here in the land of the free
