God's Will

Verse 1

Just a couple hundred fence posts

Stood between their childhood homes,

Henry on the north side struttin’,

Emma soft as morning dawn.

Grimes County, Texas, dirt roads,

German Lutherans proud and stern,

Raised on “Truth” and Sunday sermons

’Bout the wages sinners earn.

Chorus

But they said it was God’s will,

Said she got what she deserved,

God’s will for bein’ so damn beautiful,

God’s will for bein’ young and unlearned.

Didn’t matter it was against her will,

Didn’t matter how she pled or reeled—

They said it was God’s will,

And against her will, her fate was sealed.

Verse 2

Emma’s hair was fire in sunlight,

Curly red and wild and free,

Eyes as blue as Texas springtime,

Voice like warblers in the trees.

Ten months older, twice her weight,

Henry walked like he owned the land,

Raised to think that womenfolk

Were gifts placed in a young man’s hands.

Chorus

But they said it was God’s will,

Said she got what she deserved,

God’s will for bein’ so damn beautiful,

God’s will for bein’ young and unlearned.

Didn’t matter it was against her will,

Didn’t matter how she pled or reeled—

They said it was God’s will,

And against her will, her fate was sealed.

Verse 3

Seventeen and foolish, they said,

As if youth was some great sin,

As if innocence invited

Every darkness hid within.

Henry waited for his moment,

Like a wolf that scents the fold,

And he raped her into motherhood,

Into marriage bought and sold.

Chorus

But they said it was God’s will,

Said she got what she deserved,

God’s will for bein’ so damn beautiful,

God’s will for bein’ young and unlearned.

Didn’t matter it was against her will,

Didn’t matter how she pled or reeled—

They said it was God’s will,

And against her will, her fate was sealed.

Verse 4

When her belly started showin’,

All the whispers turned to knives,

And the pious folk of Navasota

Set about “correctin’” lives.

No white dress or joyful gatherin’,

Just a shotgun and a shame,

Forced her down upon her knees

To confess what wasn’t blame.

Verse 5

Through her tears she begged forgiveness

For a sin she never chose,

While the righteous nodded smugly

As her innocence was closed.

Then they slapped old Henry’s shoulder,

Praised him like a conquering man,

For “winnin’” Grimes County’s beauty

Like it all went to his plan.

Final Chorus

But they said it was God’s will,

Said she got what she deserved,

God’s will for bein’ so damn beautiful,

God’s will for bein’ young and unlearned.

Didn’t matter it was against her will,

Didn’t matter how she pled or reeled—

They said it was God’s will,

And against her will, her fate was sealed.

Outro

In the red dirt of that county,

Where the hymns turn sharp as steel,

Emma’s story still is echoin’

Through the hollers, cold and real.

For the cruelest lies are spoken

By the ones who claim they’re healed—

And the deadliest words in a small town’s mouth

Are “God’s will,”

When a girl’s fate’s sealed.

If you want, I can create a call‑and‑response harmony version, a murder‑ballad cadence, or a slow gospel lament in the style of the Louvins’ darkest work.