The Road to Jericho

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About this song

When you help someone that won't repay you

Lyrics

[Verse 1 - The Ride Down]
I keep my head down on this road
I know the way they look at me
A man from the northern hills
Is something they don't want to see
I was thinking about nothing much
The price of oil, the summer heat
When I saw something in the road
A man crumpled at my feet
[Verse 2 - The Seeing]
I knew him by his face
One of them, one of the chosen
Beaten raw and left for dead
Stripped and bloody, torn and broken
The kind of man who'd cross the street
Before he'd let me in his door
And here he was beneath my donkey
Dying on the floor
[Verse 3 - The Contemplation]
I thought if it were me down there
He'd probably walk on by
He'd find some holy reason
To leave me there to die
His priests have their purity
His Levites have their songs
None of them have ever thought
That maybe they were wrong
[Chorus]
But a man is bleeding in the road
A man is dying in the sun
Whatever he might think of me
Doesn't change what must be done
[Verse 4 - The Work]
I got down off my donkey
My knees hit the bloody dirt
Poured my oil into his wounds
Tore the strips from my own shirt
His blood was on my hands and arms
I bound him up the best I could
He opened up his eyes and saw me
And I don't think he understood
[Verse 5]
I saw the shock, I saw the shame
I saw him try to pull away
I just kept working on his wounds
There was nothing left to say
[Chorus]
A man is bleeding in the road
A man is dying in the sun
Whatever he might think of me
Doesn't change what must be done
[Verse 6 - The Journey]
I set him on my donkey
Walked seventeen miles down
My hand upon his broken back
All the way to town
I wondered what he'd tell them
When he got back to his kin
Would he say who really saved him
Or leave that part thin?
[Verse 7 - The Inn]
I brought him to a place I know
Paid two days in silver coin
Whatever else it costs, I said
I'll settle when I rejoin
I walked out to my donkey
Blood still drying on my shirt
Didn't wait for any thanks
I know what I am worth
[Final Chorus]
A man was bleeding in the road
A man was dying in the sun
Whatever he might think of me
I did what had to be done
I don't need him to understand
I don't need anyone
A man was dying in the road
I did what had to be done

I never saw him again
I don't know if he lived
I didn't do it for the thanks
I did it for the man

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