To the Beat of a Different Drum

A host without number, as grains of the sand,
Just like a vast army so proudly they stand.
From the start of all time, from land after land,
From the here, now and time yet to come:
A drumbeat they wait for but nobody knows
Just who beats the rhythm that naturally flows,
But follow they will as the sound of it grows -
“No time to question. Must press on!”

The rhythm entrances and fools them to stay.
They're lulled into thinking there's no other way
Than the broad way to travel. I hear someone say:
“We'll think of the end when it comes”.
But their eyes cannot see just ahead, they can't tell
That as they march on, they march downward to hell,
The host without number and drummer as well,
The One, where the rhythm comes from.

But there's somebody different out there in the crowd,
Disturbing the comfort of those all around
He seems to be hearing a different sound -
The beat of a different drum.
To them he looks mad, “He's way out of line”
His pace is so different, it seems out of time,
To look at he seems without rhythm or rhyme,
Their painful reproaches soon come.

To them he is odd and they don't understand.
He bears the reproaches met out by their hand;
For he hears in his mind from a much fairer land
The beat of a different drum.
No matter what comes of their utter disgust,
It no longer matters, for Christ is his trust.
The rhythm has meaning, and follow he must,
And steadily marches right on.

If only the scoffers could hear what he hears
They'd abandon the path they've been walking for years.
But the rhythm they march to beats loud in their ears
And demands that they quickly march on.
“Easier to go with the flow” so they say,
“We don't want to be out of step on the way.”
But patiently ‘Christian', still marching is he
To the beat of a different drum.

Out in the distance where no eye can see,
A drummer beats softly and gently to he
Who's ears have been opened, by faith he can see,
He knows in his heart where it's from.
He's blessed with unspeakable joy from above,
For The One, whom having not seen is his love.
And the beat of the different drum is enough
To guide the way safe to his home.

AleB