Music and Lyrics by Loreena McKennitt





I hear some distant drumbeat

A heartbeat pulsing low

Is it coming from within

A heartbeat I don't know

A troubled heart knows no peace

A dark and poisoned pool

Of liberty now lost

A pawn an oppressors tool



Oh my heart be strong

And guide when eyes grow dim

When ears grow deaf with empty words

When I know there's life within



A gunfire shatters silence

Where birds once sweetly sang

A mother cradles a child now dead

Now death where life began



>From the troubled heart of South Africa

Nicaragua's festering sore

The turmoil on the streets of China

Death crying out for more



Chorus

A change is slow in coming

My eyes can scarcely see

The rays of hope come streaming

Through the smoke of apathy



But oh my heart be strong

And guide when eyes grow dim

When ears grow deaf with empty words

When I know there's life within



May the spirit never die

Through a troubled heart feels pain

When this long winter is over

It will blossom once again





A tribute to Amnesty International



L.M.: Keyboards, Ukalin, Whistle

BRIAN HUGHES: Guitars

SHELLY BERGER: Bass, Pzud

GEORGE KOLLER: Tamboura

RICK LAZAR: Udu Drum, Congas



Co-produced by L.M. and Brian Hughes.

Mixed by John Whynot at Metal Works, Toronto