The Pearl - Joshua Kadison

There was a Pearl at the bottom of the sea

He was a diver like you and me

From a little village built on the sand

Where the people had nothing but faith in the Lord’s hand

In the far-away near, the Pearl was always there

Floating like a dream or like a storm in the air…

And the Pearl grew bigger on the people’s despair

When the divers went to dive they prayed the same sad prayer

«Oh, God, help me find it this time

When I hold it to the light, how the Pearl will shine.»

Early one morning, fates changed everything

Zandro’s baby boy felt the scorpion’s sting

The town doctor just sent them away

«Poor people like you got no money to pay.»

In Maya’s arms, her baby just cried

While Zandro heard the Pearl’s song pounding louder inside

Into his boat he put his wife and child

And paddled out into the ocean wild

«Oh, God, help me find it this time

When I hold it to the light, how the Pearl will shine

Help me Lord, help me Lord, help me Lord, help me.»

When he held it to the light the great Pearl did shine

Evil on evil, sin on sin…

The whole town’s hunger started closin in

The priest came from the churchyard to show his deep concern

The doctor came to visit, now there was money to be earned

His child got better despite the doctor’s pills

Whose plan it was to fake him sick, then pretend to heal his ills

And Maya said, «Let's throw this pearl back to sea

I do believe it’s wicked, it’ll curse our family.»

Oh, God, Zandro couldn’t see the sign

When he held it to the light the Great Pearl did shine

Shimmering, glistening, glimmering, glowing

When he held it to the light, the Great Pearl did shine

With knives they came to steal his precious prize

Zandro killed beneath the starless sky

With blood-stains on his hands they had to flee

But some crushed his boat, so they couldn’t go by sea

They fled into the mountains by moonlight

Three hunters close behind them through the night

Then high up on a rocky mountain side

Zandro found a cave for his family to hide

He spied the hunters camp and wainted 'til they slept

With his knife strapped to his back, down the rocks he crept

Silently for hours, 'til he was almost there

Then just before Zandro planned to leap into the air

High up on the mountain his child made a sound

A gun went off, the song of eveil echoed all around

Oh, Zandro killed the hunters

But it was all to late

One bullet in the darkness

Sealed his child’s fate

Maya took her baby down to the sea

With Zandro by her side, not beleiving such a thing could be…

That his child would never waken fro his sleep

Then Zandro threw the Pearl with all his might

And gave it back to the deep

There was a Pearl at the bottom of the sea

He was a diver like you and me…