"Our Lady Liberty"
[Intro: Slow piano and string quartet, distant foghorn and harbor bells]
She rose from dreamers’ hands and flame
A gift across the ocean she came
To greet the tired, the poor, the lost
With hope, unmeasured by her cost
A monument not built for war—
But to open wide a nation’s door
[Verse 1]
In 1886, she crossed the sea
With iron bones and majesty
An abolitionist’s dream, shaped by Eiffel with care
Broken shackles at her feet, a torch high in the air
She was far more than a gift from France to stand
But a beacon of freedom calling out to every land
Her torch, a guide through darkest skies
For ships full of souls with hopeful eyes
[Chorus]
Our Lady Liberty, is a promise in the storm
Freedom’s arms outstretched and warm
With every storm she sees another dawn
She whispers, “Child, you still belong”
But now she weeps as a president lies
As her justice fades and our freedoms die
She still stands tall on Liberty’s Isle…
But robbed, it seems, of her old smile
[Verse 2]
She’s watched countless boats pass her way
As families knelt and dared to pray
They’ve known famine, war, and pain
With nothing left but hearts unchained
She whispers in the wind’s low moan
“You are not lost… you are not alone…”
Names were changed, voices were unheard
But still they come and cling to her words
[Chorus]
Our Lady Liberty, is a promise in the storm
Freedom’s arms outstretched and warm
With every storm she sees another dawn
She whispers, “Child, you still belong”
But now she weeps as a president lies
As her justice fades and our freedoms die
She still stands tall on Liberty’s Isle…
But robbed, it seems, of her old smile
[Verse 3]
Over vast distances they roam
But find a colder kind of ‘home’
Where children sleep on concrete floors
And mothers wait behind locked doors
This land forgets its founding creed
As fences grow and neighbors plead
This isn’t what those dreamers meant
Way back when Lady Liberty was sent
[Bridge: Cello solo rising into orchestral crescendo]
Will we be a land filled with heads turned away?
Or will we raise Liberty’s torch for another day?
Will we bury other’s dreams beneath our feet?
Or hold her light high, and not retreat?
[Verse 4]
So let her torch not dim with our shame
Nor let us desecrate her sacred name
She stands for those cast out, cast far...
A slave, a refugee, a migrant, a fallen star
Her light was meant to heal and guide
Not blind the world with hate and pride
And if we let her true purpose die…
Then our ‘freedom’ is built upon a lie
[Chorus]
Our Lady Liberty, is a promise in the storm
Freedom’s arms outstretched and warm
With every storm she sees another dawn
She whispers, “Child, you still belong”
But now she weeps as a president lies
As her justice fades and our freedoms die
She still stands tall on Liberty’s Isle…
But robbed, it seems, of her old smile
[Chorus]
Our Lady Liberty, is a promise in the storm
Freedom’s arms outstretched and warm
With every storm she sees another dawn
She whispers, “Child, you still belong”
But now she weeps as a president lies
As her justice fades and our freedoms die
She still stands tall on Liberty’s Isle…
But robbed, it seems, of her old smile
[Outro: piano solo]
She rises for them… and rises for us
A vow, a flame, a most sacred trust
Let not her voice go cold and still
Let her renewed light guide our will
Oh Lady Liberty, you guide us still
Song Description
A solemn anthem of liberty betrayed and renewed
"You Guide Us Still" is a dramatic, soul-stirring ballad inspired by the Statue of Liberty’s early years (1886–1902), when she served not only as a national symbol but as a navigational light for ships entering New York Harbor. Built on a frame designed by Gustave Eiffel and originally envisioned as a beacon of anti-slavery and freedom, Lady Liberty becomes the emotional core of this song; both witness and warning in an era of renewed cruelty toward immigrants, especially those of darker skin color.
Through four deeply poetic verses and a hauntingly repeated chorus, the song juxtaposes the hope of arriving families with the reality of modern-day detention, deportation, and division. It evokes the copper monument as more than stone and flame; as a living conscience, quietly watching America drift from its founding promise.
With elegant historical references, vivid modern imagery, and a stirring call to reclaim her purpose, “You Guide Us Still” is both protest and prayer, and a reminder that liberty is not inherited, but chosen anew with every generation.
