Lyrics
IN THE COLD LIGHT OF DAY
In the cold light of day
They chose to put you down
In the cold light of day
They put you down
There’s no other way to say
What they did to you today
In the cold light of day
They put you down
In the hours before it happened
I’d heard what they might do
I had faith you would be rescued
Before the night was through
But this was Missouri
And I was a fool
To think that love at last might find
A way to be with you
Overnight there’d been no rescue
No reprieve and no delay
And in the cold light of dawn
They’d put you down
Now what you did was awful
That’s for sure
But what about forgiveness
What about a cure
For a child who’s been abandoned
Degraded and abused
Well you won’t find the answer in Missouri
I hear your last words in my head
You were sorry for what you did
That you’re a kind and loving person
Who wanted to love and wanted to give
Some will find that hard to take
That’s not for me to say
What I can say is that hate informed
The choices that were made
With a jury undecided
The verdict was you’d live
Until a self righteous judge
Decided he would give you
His own special verdict
And commanded you should die
Judges can do that in Missouri
It was a judge and a politician
Who together held the line
Upheld the dubious law
The appeals ran out of time
I see them at a table
Eating well and drinking wine
With Amber there beside them
With Amber on their mind
Never mind Georgia
Go to Missouri and you’ll find
Amber is now always
On their mind
The details of this story
Will eventually be told
In the days the weeks the years ahead
It never will grow cold
No one is denying
What Amber did was wrong
But it needs to be remembered
For a different kind of wrong
When cruelty invades the heart
And the choice to kill is made
Empty of compassion
In the cold light of day
SKC January 2023