Walkin' Away From Omelas

[bnewman]

I've been meaning to write this song for a long time — not only the title, but the mood, seemed fitting. "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" is a deeply sad and troubling story, all the more sad and troubling for the mirror it holds up to the real world, and any song about it needs to reflect that.

lyrics by Benjamin Newman

ttto: "Walkin' Away From Caroline" by Dave Carter

listen to this song
 

Omelas is a perfect place, a city filled with light and grace

Where you won't find a trace

Of dearth or lack, or of grief and loss

 

But everyone there knows they keep one tortured kid

Everyone knows, it's not even hid

Though he's locked away like a piece of dross

 

And keeping that child in a private hell

Keeps the whole place perfect, like it's some kind of spell

And I'm walkin' away from Omelas

 

Omelas says that it's always been this way

Ask yourself how much you would pay

If it wasn't you hanging on that cross

 

Omelas says that it's not done out of hate

They say that it's only fate

And it's no one's fault, and it's worth the cost

 

And Omelas swears, life out there is rough

But I'm already leaving, 'cause I've heard enough

And I'm walkin' away from Omelas

 

But I've left Omelas one too many times

I've said I condemned their crimes

But excused my own, with a bit of gloss

 

Omelas looks a bit like now and here

Just look in Ursula's mirror

And you'll see that kid, all the ones we've lost

 

Is Omelas blessed, or is Omelas cursed?

Is that even the question, when the real world is worse?

And I'm walkin' away from Omelas