a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 #

alva henderson - planting a sequoia lyrics

Loading...

all afternoon my brothers and i have worked in the orchard
digging this hole, laying you into it, carefully packing the soil
rain blackened the horizon, but cold winds kept it over the pacific
and the sky above us stayed the dull gray
of an old year coming to an end

in sicily a father plants a tree to celebrate his first son’s birth–
an olive or a fig tree–a sign that the earth has one more life to bear
i would have done the same, proudly laying new stock into my father’s orchard
a green sapling rising among the twisted apple boughs
a promise of new fruit in other autumns

but today we kneel in the cold planting you, our native giant
defying the practical custom of our fathers
wrapping in your roots a lock of hair, a piece of an infant’s birth cord
all that remains above earth of a first+born son
a few stray atoms brought back to the elements

we will give you what we can–our labor and our soil
water drawn from the earth when the skies fail
nights scented with the ocean fog, days softened by the circuit of bees
we plant you in the corner of the grove, bathed in western light
a slender shoot against the sunset

and when our family is no more, all of his unborn brothers dead
every niece and nephew scattered, the house torn down
his mother’s beauty ashes in the air
i want you to stand among strangers, all young and ephemeral to you
silently keeping the secret of your birth

- alva henderson lyrics

Random Lyrics

HOT LYRICS

Loading...