The Guilt That We Survive

Here’s a new song from me. Hope you like it.

“The Guilt that We Survive”
It’s the rookie who just made the team
Whose old friends now just watch and dream
It’s the CEO who’s upward bound
With a brother stuck in her hometown
It’s the Dreamer with her new degree
Whose Abuela still long to be free
It’s the Soldier on that National Mall
Who runs his fingers down that Wall.
It’s the price we all pay, the longer we’re alive
Ones who fade away, and the guilt that we survive.
It’s the singer with that sidewalk star
Whose old band still plays run down bars
It’s the drunk who fingers his bronze chip
While his roommate’s on his seventh slip
It’s the one who’s five years cancer free
Whose friend dies unexpectedly
It’s the Mother in her shelter bed
Whose bunkmate went back home instead
It’s the price we all pay, the longer we’re alive
Ones who fade away, and the guilt that we survive.
So these questions, they rattle through my mind
With answers I can never seem to find.
Why am I the one that fortune found?
Why am I the one who’s still around?
Why am I the one who made it through?
Why am I the one, and why not you?
It’s the price we all pay, the longer we’re alive
Ones who fade away, and the guilt that we survive.
Words and Music, Eric Folkerth. Copyright, 2018.

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Eric Folkerth is a minister, musician, author and blogger. He is Senior Pastor of Kessler Park UMC United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas. Previously, he was pastor at Northaven UMC in Dallas for seventeen years. Eric loves to write on topics of spirituality, social justice, music/art and politics. The entries on this blog reflect that diversity of interests. His passion for social justice goes beyond mere words. Eric was arrested at the White House, defending immigrants and “The Dreamers;” and he’s officiated at same sex weddings. Eric was the 2017 recipient of the prestigeous Kuchling Humanitarian Award from Dallas’ Black Tie Dinner. (Human Rights Campaign) Eric has led or co-led hundreds of persons on mission trips to build houses and bring medical care around the globe, to places such as Mexico, Haiti, Russia, Guatemala, and Nepal. He is proud of have shephereded Highland Park UMC's construction of ten Habitat for Humanity homes, (and one Community Center) and helped forge an alliance with Habitat that led to the construction of 100 homes in Dallas, housing thousands of people. His wife, Justice Dennise Garcia, has 20 years experience as a state district judge and appelate justice in North Texas. First elected in 2004, she was the first Latina ever elected to a Dallas County state district bench, and she she left that position whe was the longest currently serving district judge. In 2020 Dennise Garcia was a elected as a Justice of the 5th District Court of Appeals for Texas. She is currently running to be Chief of the 5th District Court of Appeals in the 2024 cycle. They have the world’s best daughter, Maria, who is a practicing professional counselor in Dallas. Find links to Eric’s music-related websites, at the top of this site’s navigation menu.

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