The Thousand Tombs of Western Promise

As the century turns Everything goes cold I reach for a faded tale Of a nation once told The new industrial god Machine The barons of toil And their ever expanding reach The driller a titan The lender a lord Prosperity in the open grave is what they preach My twilight burns lonesome The dream has been felled I yearn for some respite A shred of valor I once held A hail to progress And eternal returns From the frontier towns Billows of black A palace of gold He who saddled the iron horse Pulls god's country in tow Cursed! Given unto the thousand tombs Beguiled! A mirage in black smoke Abandoned! Golden streets tarnished with blood Idols of steam, gods of steel And all else consumed Is this not the path of heaven I was put here to tread? Years of toil is all here I have found And a cross for the dead Cursed! Given unto the thousand tombs Beguiled! A mirage in black smoke Abandoned! Golden streets tarnished with blood Idols of steam, gods of steel And all else consumed The thousand condemned to lie in the graves below Tombs The veil drifts to the ground of western A looming shadow from the hill Promise The dream not die, it had never lived An ill destined climb Toward the city upon the hill Never the first There will ever be more still Within in the land of opportunity A thousand tombs await A toast to thee, oh captains of industry It was always you You always held our fate