The truth is passed from hand to hand
and in each hand it leaves behind
something of itself and carries away
the imprint of that hand.
If we walked backward in the calendar
everything would be backward.

Some say that it's false
and others insist it's true
that he entered Jerusalem by day.
They say that his tunic was white
and that perched in his eyes
was a bird of high noon.

That was a time of tombs;
it was a time of flutes,
of dealers and of Roman legions.
They say that the rabble followed him
and that the morning was cleansed
by his simple Word.

Jerusalem, year 0,
and what happened there
changed destiny.
Jerusalem, year 0, and Nazareth
and the little village of Bethlehem.

He was an enemy of the Empire
and an ally of the Word.
He said that everything was for everyone
they say he taught the shepherds
to share their sheep
and to protect themselves from the wolves.

That kind of teaching didn't go over real big
in the power centers of the temples
and they nailed him roughly to the wood.
They said because he was a witch or sorcerer,
but if the story is true
it was to shut him up.

The King of the Jews,
the Son of Man,
the Christ, the Nazarene
they called him.