if i wrote a book...
started a group,
and every time you heard my name
someone tried to control you,
and all the wealthy praised me as
they drew more blood for affluence,
and every time a bomb went off,
my name was used in its defense...

would i be despised?
would i be ignored?
or would i be the most accepted thing in the world?

and i pray every day,
for the praying to end,
and i'm sorry to say that
we've been deceived, my friends,
again and again.

if both sides of every war
used me to rally support,
and every name brand racism
believed my words were at its core,
and every cruelty in the world
was made possible by the view
that put its victims outside my grace
and held its sources as my truth...

would i be despised?
would i be ignored?
or would i be the most accepted thing in the world?

and i pray every day,
for the praying to end,
and i'm sorry to say that
we've been deceived, my friends,
again and again.