I originally wrote this song fifty years ago—in 1976. It was written and performed for a special occasion. The song was largely forgotten after that.
My theology has changed a lot since then. So, I decided it was time for a revision. I was inspired by the hymn “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” by Johann Sebastian Bach and by Paul Simon’s “American Tune” which uses the Bach chorale’s melody.
I used AI software (Suno) to record it. There are two versions, one an acoustic folk setting and the other a mixed chorus (SATB). The choral arrangement sticks closer to the melody but the folk setting may be my favorite because I sang the original version accompanied by guitar.
Folk arrangement
Choral arrangement
A young man roams the city
With anger in his eyes.
His rage glows like an ember,
His hope in silence dies.
He knows he’s going nowhere,
He knows he cannot win.
His restless cries fill vacant skies
While the kingdom is at hand.
The widow wakes each morning
To toast and tea alone.
Her quiet rooms grow heavy
With memories long gone.
She dreams of friends and loved ones
And futures they had planned.
Shadows fall on silent walls
While the kingdom is at hand.
The young girl on the corner
Earns her living on the street.
While watching cars, she bears the scars
Of lovers and defeat.
In darkness she keeps searching
For yet another man;
A fragile life drifts through the night
While the kingdom is at hand.
The children cry from hunger;
Their weary bodies lie
In rooms where hope grows silent
And childhood passes by.
Their tender dreams lie shattered—
A scar upon the land.
Children’s tears outpace their years
While the kingdom is at hand.
To those who live forgotten,
To those who ache for hope,
To those denied all kindness,
To those who grasp and grope,
No distant throne awaits you,
No heaven far above—
The kingdom rises in our midst
Through acts of costly love.
Jesus showed the way to live—
To feed and clothe and care;
To stand beside the suffering
And find the wounded there.
The lonely and imprisoned
He placed within our hands;
We bear his love into the world—
The kingdom is at hand.
Our efforts may seem fragile,
Our actions small and slow;
But seed by seed a different world
Begins in what we sow.
A life of love is rising,
No power can command;
Where a people live in love
The kingdom is at hand.
Music: “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” by Johann Sebastian Bach
© 2026, Kurt Struckmeyer
