Prairie Girl

Prairie girl, sitting on a fencepost, watching the backs of the birds flown away,
felt the cold of fall on her shoulders,
opened her wings to the south just to say...

"Oh take me! Don't foresake me!
Who will keep me warm in the winter!"

Prairie girl, sitting in a shade tree,
watching the sun going out of its leaves,
smelled the earth turning brown, turning under,
sank down her roots, her heartwood to freeze...

Prairie girl! The winter is coming!
Prairie girl! Light a fire in the hearth!
Prairie girl! Be a woman of the winter!
Prairie girl, the snow's about to start...

Grumman Canoe

I can't stop thinkin how all I wanna do
is spend my day fishing in my Grumman canoe.
My grandfather bought 'er after WWII,
he knew that sittin' on the water could see a man through!

So take me to the river if you'd be so kind;
another moment on this shore'll make me lose my mind!
Got my fishing pole ready and my stinkbait too.
Those catfish better watch out, cuz I'm in a canoe.

I can't forget, I gotta let you know
that sittin' on the water's gonna save your soul!
Jesus did it lotsa times, he taught those guys
and bit by bit it fed em after just a few tries.

So go dig some worms, go and find some line,
there's nothin quite as good to do with your time.
Maybe make a sandwich, maybe find some beer,
just don't forget to take me with you out to the pier!!

When I'm really tired, when I'm nearly dead,
I hope someone'll take me to the river's bed.
A canoe's the greatest coffin, its a stylish grave
and you're already in heaven when you're ridin' a wave!
Carry Your Shoes

When you speak, speak the truth! When you sing, let it loose!
When you walk, carry your shoes, now carry your shoes!

They say that knowledge is power by who or what you know.
But all the information of this age won't light the fire in your soul.
Take up your cross you people!
Bear witness in the love of your land!
'Cause it all means nothing to the eager child if you gesture with an idle hand.

Our freedom doesn't come free, and we know that it doesn't come cheap.
Somehow we've forgotten how we got here, to the comforts of home, lost the light that we once lived to seek.
Take up your cross you people!
Bear witness in the love of your land!
'Cause it all means nothing to the eager child if you never learn to take a stand.

And we've borrowed this earth from our children; an inheritance gnawed to excess.
We the prodigal sons and daughters destroy, in denial of love for our flesh.
Take up your cross you people!
Bear witness in the love of your land!
'Cause it all could be lost to the eager child if we forget we are mortal man!
The House Song

I could build my house on a mountaintop, enjoy the climb, enjoy the view.
Or I could build my house in the valley so green,
with the ground wet below, the sky above blue.
I could build my house on the prairie plan,
with the wind in my hair, and you calling my name.

What's a girl to do? I can't stop thinking of you.
And do you love me today? And what of tomorrow?
Is another one waiting at sea?

My house on the mountain top could burn,
and it'd have so far to fall.
And my house in the valley could wash away,
one rain could take away all.
My house on the prairie could be lonely at times,
lost in the grass, losing my mind.

So I'll build my house not of stone or of wood,
no nails shall hold it together.
And I'll build my house not of plastic or steel,
but it will survive any weather.
I'll build my house of pure skin and pure bone,
within myself, I'll make my home.
At the End of Stone Barn Road

These woods, they made me a woman,
These trees, they made me a beast,
My skin and my hair cured in nettles,
Oh, I'll bear (bare) nothing to them but my teeth,
Oh, I'll bear (bare) nothing to them but my teeth.

My burs will cling to your sleeves.
You'll lose buttons as you walk off the trail.
And the sound of the owl will leave your mouth dry.
The crow will make your tongue fail.

The vixen, the doe, and the jenny
flow like water and light through the trees.
And the trillium, spider-wort, lily
save all of their secrets for bees.

Mosquito and tick, they will find you,
hungry mothers, just living to feed!
And the blood, that we shed to the mushrooms,
in the cycles of death and of need!

Now my bones left spidersilk smooth!
My flesh loved. Consumed, and well-sought.
Oh, and into these timbers and thickets, oh,
will I wander to bless and to haunt!
Know You're Near

Beneath the dome, I saw the crashing waves.
No hope awake, no welcome to we who came.
My eyes were opened in the dark.
No storm can take me by the heart
by the heart
by the heart
by the heart

But God said, "Let there be light today."
And so we go, we go into the pines to pray.
And the sun, the sun will always find us here.
And your daughter will know you're near.
And your daughter will know you're near.
All is Well

It takes a little time, and sometimes a longer time to find where your home is.
You're walkin' down the line, two steps back, three steps forward
wonderin' "How can I know this
Complicated world, all its ins and its outs,
all its people and my future and my manifold doubts.
Where do I go?"

All is well with my soul, with my soul.

Sometimes you gotta live without being okay,
and know that its okay
to manufacture wings as your're plummeting down,
to see only today's
problems, 'cause its all you can fit in your mind,
to know that you just gotta take your time,
and you don't have to know.

All is well with my soul, with my soul.

They say, "Look to the birds when you're feeling down,
how they keep on flying."
They neither sow nor reap, yet the grace in this world
sustains them from dying.
And ignorance is bliss to the faithful heart
when you're scooped up by that low-swingin' sweet chariot
taking you home.

All is well with my soul, with my soul.
Little Birds

I've seen my share of dead little birds,
dead little birds, my oh my.
So small and so sweet, how I pray they will meet
in the sky, in the sky, in the sky.
I can't save them all from the ground.
Maybe not any at all.

I've sung my share of old country songs,
old country songs, my oh my.
The stories I told were seldom my own, 
but somehow they still make me cry.
Some part of them somehow is true.
Some part of me singing to you.

And I've lost my share of hope in this world,
hope in this world, my oh my.
But my part I shall play in the light of this day,
like the bird in the sky! in the sky!
And my moment on faltering wings
is the moment I'm starting to sing.

I've seen my share of dead little birds,
dead little birds, my oh my.
So small and so sweet, how I pray they will meet
in the sky, in the sky, in the sky.
To the Bison

Long ago, before the stars were made, oh I met you in that meadow.
All we saw, lit only by the moon; we were creatures in that nettle.
Simple of mind and simple of tongue, wise in the ways that water takes,
we were ancient and we were young, as the dawn that waits to break.
 
Oh mighty heart!
Oh thunder feet!
Oh restore my inner beast!
Standing firm to face the wind,
we greet our winter once again!
 
How our spinning world turned meadows into rows, moments turned to measured time.
Lovely fur stripped down to naked skin; I was not yours, you were not mine!
Electric light and electric sound! A world through windows seldom seen!
We are ancient and we are young as what has been and what will be!
 

 
Possum

Oh possum, you’ve far to go,
Go possum, go through the snow.
Naked eye, and naked tail,
naked feet goin’ down the trail.
 
Play dead for the coyote’s (owl, etc.) eye
Pray pray he’ll pass you by…
then rise, like Lazarus, from the grave!
Rise up and go on your way!