Some rule from the sky Some inch cross the ground Their bent backs turn to all Heaven above sends down Scratch and puff from this earth What gold it may give Fattening on feasts to come Laboring now to live And America is a hard religion Not just anyone may enter America is a hard religion Some never do surrender Sent to a savage land Mother knows not why To plant a seed in rocky soil And perhaps to die Freedom come it may To this child instead Freedom comes freedom goes Father is surely dead And America is a hard religion Not just anyone may enter America is a hard religion Some never do surrender Paid by thanksful praise Yet we soldier on Trials to test our hearts Doubts to make us strong Cheered by loved ones that From the graveyard say All my tears surely gone After I fly away And America is a hard religion Not just anyone may enter America is a hard religion Some never do surrender