Muranow

I.

They built the townhouses

 on your burial mounds 

They dug up your ashes 

 from out of the grounds 

Ground your bones into mortar 

 to plaster the walls 

It's little surprise 

 that you've haunted us all

When nothing remained 

 they laid down a new grid 

If the pattern is altered

 then the ghost's will stay hid 

No old streets to wander 

 no old haunts to roam 

but the ghosts of the ghetto 

 call the townhouses home

They died in the cellars

They died in the streets 

They died on their hands 

 and they died on their feet 

They died in the city 

 and in the camps, too 

And their ghosts keep returning

 to haunt me and you

II.

A sea of humanity

 withered away

These streets

 at a glance seem barren today

But when you glimpse in the shadows

 the sea will appear

The waves of their spirits

 still hauntingly near

When at last liquidated

 the ghetto was razed

The ones that remained

 called the rubble their graves

But they weren't consecrated

 they weren't honored at all

They were mixed in the mortar 

 that plastered the walls

You ghosts of the ghetto

 what have you to say

Why is it you come here

 to haunt us this day

May we not rest in peace

 in this house we call home

We've our lives left to live

 please leave us alone

III.

If peace is the question 

 then peace is the cause

If our presence unnerves you

 then it should give you pause

Would a spirit of peace

 be haunting as well

Would you seek first

 the Kingdom

Or run

 straight into Hell

If the suffering continues

 the ghost sea will grow

Until suffering spirits 

 is all that you'll know

Your own seas will wither

 your rivers run dry

And the whole world 

 could end

But the suffering

 won't die

May a spirit of peace

 come to haunt you today

To shock and unnerve you

 to follow the way 

Where the Holy Ghost Guides you

 through the shadow of death

There'll be peace in the valley

 when you draw your last breath