Well of Time
Lyrics
In these weathered fields and boggy mires
We have strewn the seeds of our innermost desires
I recall we worked with steady hands
In the precious soil, heavenly work and toil
Out of our efforts these beaten grains have grown
Not aged by time and disappointment alone
But memories of fruitful days
Linger with hope in their meager veins
We showered all our riches upon the dirt
All our dreams and all our comforts lost to life and hurt
As we shared these fields in earthly plight
We held each other woes with loving grace and light
Though old and weary, our bodies and our bones
Strong and mighty from all that we have known
And moments from blissful days
Are whispered in songs and prayers
Grant us a season of blessed respite
Where we can work through the night
Will our desires into being, and the songbird into singing
And dream of bringing all the earth to life
In these weathered fields and boggy mires
We have strewn the seeds of our innermost desires
I recall we worked with steady hands
In the precious soil, heavenly work and toil
These words that I once wrote with love’s devotion
are now empty shells
These pages echo silence
and my pen has no more stories to tell
They used to flow out of me
like a current in a valley in France
A never ending stream of words and poems,
murmuring a dance
Serenades and hymns and ballads
about love and loss
About farewells and children,
about rises and falls
The songs about goodbyes
they used to come to me so easily
In the kissing adieus
I sensed all of life’s intensity
The embraces at train stations
used to show me with clarity
What makes sense and what does not,
who I’d love and who’d set me free
Serenades and hymns and ballads
about love and loss
About farewells and children,
about rises and falls
We used to have a well of time
Excitingly empty
We gathered all our memories there
And dreams of plenty
We filled it to the brim
With life’s troubles and life’s sorrows
And buckets full of joyous days
And hopes for better tomorrows
In these careless summer days
I lie upon my bed of flowers, a blanket green and lush
With a sprinkle of dewy showers
And the songs of a meadow-thrush
These luscious trees tell their tales of longing
For summer’s endless light
And bow their heads in mourning
O’er the long approaching night
Our evening lady solemnly strides
Clad in fabric black as soot
A widow in disguise
Warns of summer’s sweet demise
These luscious trees tell their tales of longing
For summer’s endless light
And bow their heads in mourning
O’er the long approaching night
Let us pause in life’s pleasures and count its many tears
While we all sup sorrow with the poor
There’s a song that will linger forever in our ears
Oh, hard times, come again no more
‘Tis the song, the sigh of the weary
Hard times, hard times, come again no more
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door
Oh, hard times, come again no more
While we seek mirth and beauty and music, light and gay
There are frail forms fainting at the door
Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say
Oh, hard times, come again no more
‘Tis the song, the sigh of the weary
Hard times, hard times, come again no more
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door
Oh, hard times, come again no more
‘Tis a song that is wafted across the troubled wave
‘Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore
‘Tis a dirge that is murmured along the lowly grave
Oh, hard times, come again no more
‘Tis the song, the sigh of the weary
Hard times, hard times, come again no more
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door
Oh, hard times, come again no more
In the sweet light of the valley
Where the sun falls upon the pine
I shall lay down all of my troubles
And I lift up this heart of mine
Take me home, Lord, oh take me home
O’er the hillside and o’er the sea
To the soft grass of the valley
Where your grace shall set me free
Through the shadow of the darkness
Through the storms that lead me astray
I shall travel forever knowing
In your light I will always stay
Take me home, Lord, oh take me home
O’er the hillside and o’er the sea
To the soft grass of the valley
Where your grace shall set me free
Then again it’s dawn, the night could not resist it
The sun pours its light on the ruins of theaters
On the bravery of neighbors and on the rage of mothers
On the embrace of two lovers and on deserted meadows
The metals cold and heavy
Silver like mercury
Our bodies can carry it
Our bodies will swallow it
And then again it’s dawn, the night could not resist it
The day pours its light on the heads of young soldiers
On the hopes of their sisters, on the hearts of all people
And on the oak on the hillside, where sparrows stopped their singing
But the sun will be returning
With its weightless light
Hold on times are a-changing
Hold on times are a-changing
Then again it’s dawn
The night could not resist it
Here I stand about to depart
Well, who knows if I’ll ever return
Though I’m going I’m leaving my heart
Maybe I’m never going to learn
Just as the leaves turn brown, and the sun goes down
I seem to have run out of time
Though it is sad to admit, it is time that I quit
And I’m leaving it all behind
My dear, my love, let me hold you tight
One last time before I leave
I sure know that you’ll be alright
Soon again it will be easy to breathe
Just as the leaves turn brown, and the sun goes down
I seem to have run out of time
Though it is sad to admit, it is time that I quit
And I’m leaving it all behind
“Fare thee well, o mother dear”
She said with a voice so clear
I will return when summer comes
To reap the strawberries and plums
The mother looked her in the eye
Asked her with a deep long sigh
“Do you really need to go,
Who will help me plow and sow?”
“Mother, I’m not leaving you
You’re always by my side
Your love I carry in my heart
Towards the dawn I ride”
Off she rode on a cool damp night
In her mind a future bright
Didn’t know what she might find
Had neither trouble nor pain in mind
Four days later, soaking wet
She’d lost her shoes and filled with fret
Found herself on a river shore
Didn’t want to ride no more
“Mother, I’m not leaving you
You’re always by my side
Your love I carry in my heart
Towards the dawn I ride”
She took a boat to foreign lands
With her mother’s necklace in one hand
In the other hand she held the hand
Of a sailor who’d become her man
But the rain came pouring, the sea turned black
There sure was no turning back
The daughter wept on the sailor’s shoulder
While he hid his fear from her
“Mother, I’m not leaving you
You’re always by my side
Your love I carry in my heart
Towards the dawn I ride”
The mother waited for a sign
Or at least the stars to align
Longed to hold her daughter dear
She thought of her and shed a tear
But the mother waited in vain
The daughter never returned again
In the waves of the seas she’d drowned
Was now in some way homeward bound
There’s a road down yonder mountain
By a river running straight towards the sea
Where the sun it meets a low horizon
The morning rays, they kiss the evergreens
Will you meet me there, oh my darling,
On the meadow with the old oak tree?
Bring you hopes and wishes, little darling
And please share your hopes and dreams with me
Sister's Tears
Lyrics
Oh have you seen my dear companion
For he was all this world to me
I hear he’s gone to some far country
And that he cares no more for me
I wish I were a swallow flying
I’d fly to a high and lonesome place
I’d join the wild birds in their crying
Thinking of you and your sweet face
Oh have you seen my dear companion
For he was all this world to me
But now the stars have turned against me
And he cares no more for me
Oh when the dark is on the mountain
And all the world has gone to sleep
I will go down to the cold dark waters
And there I’ll lay me down and weep
Oh have you seen my dear companion
Oh have you seen my dear companion
Oh have you seen my dear companion
For he was all this world to me
In the evening I stoke a fire
lit to keep me safe here in this placeHere in this place the thought of a border
fortifies some faith, reassures us strength
There, there lies a fence that I have built of stone
Though it is strong the wind still sings through the holes
In the morning I run out to grasp at
every golden ray, every golden ray
My frame along can’t contain the splendor,
my lining must be braced, another vessel made
God, God made this child out of songs and bone
Though I am stronger the pain still leaks through the holes
These walls, incomplete and tender, braided from my core
Keep out that which is heartless and seek to hold what’s pure
Oh this is a new homeplace
Oh bury me not on the lone prairie
These words came low and mournfully
From the cold pale lips of a youth who lay
On his dying bed at the close of day
He’d wasted time til upon his brow
and the shadowed clouds were gathering now
He thought of his home and his friends a nigh
oh the cowboys gathered to see him die
I fancy I’ll listen to the well known words
Of the free wild wind and the song of birds
He thought of his home and the cottonwood flower
of the songs he learned in his childhood hour
I often thought it’d be laid when I die
In the old church yard—- beneath the green hill-side
By the side of my father let my grave be
Oh bury me not on the lone prairie
Oh bury me not on the lone prairie
Where the wild coyotes howl over me
Where the buffalo roam and the wind blow free
Oh bury me not on the lone prairie
I wanna be laid where mother’s prayers
and sister’s tears will mingle there
Where my friends can come and weep over me—-v
Oh bury me not on the lone prairie
Where the dew drop fall and the butterfly rest
Where the wild blossoms bloom and the buried rest
Where the buffalo roam and the wind blow free
Oh bury me not on the lone prairie
”Oh bury me not” and his voice fell there
And we heeded not his dying prayer
In a narrow grave just six by three—
Oh we buried our boy on the lone prairie
Where the dew drop fall and the butterfly rest
Where the wild blossoms bloom and the buried rest
Where the buffalo roam and the wind blow free
Oh we buried our boy on the lone prairie
If I was on some foggy mountain top
I’d sail away to the west
I’d sail around this whole wide world
To the girl I love the best
If I had listened t’what mama says
I would not have been here today
A-lying around this old jail house
A-weeping my sweet life away
Yeah, oh-lay-ee-oh, lee-oh-la-ee-ay
Lee-oh-lay-ee, lay-ee, oh-lay-ee
Oh, if you see that girl of mine
There’s something you must tell her
She need not be foolin’ no time away
To court some other feller
Oh, she’s caused me to weep, she’s caused me to mourn
She caused me to leave my home
For the lonesome pine and the good old times
I’m on my way back home
Yeah, oh-lay-ee-oh, lee-oh-la-ee-ay
Lee-oh-lay-ee, lay-ee, oh-lay-ee
Oh, when you go a-courtin’
I’ll tell you how to do
Pull off that long-tailed roustabout
Put on your navy blue
Yeah, oh-lay-ee-oh, lee-oh-la-ee-ay
Lee-oh-lay-ee, lay-ee, oh-lay-ee
My latest sun is sinking fast
My race is nearly run
My strongest trials now are past
My triumph has begun
Oh come angel band
Come and around me stand
Oh bear me away on your snow white wings
To my immortal home
Oh bear me away on your snow white wings
To my immortal home
Oh bear my longing heart to him
Who bled and died for me
Whose blood now cleanses from all sin
And gives me victory
Oh come angel band
Come and around me stand
Oh bear me away on your snow white wings
To my immortal home
Oh bear me away on your snow white wings
To my immortal home
Bright morning stars are rising
Bright morning stars are rising
Bright morning stars are rising
Day is a’breaking in my soul
O where are my dear mothers
O where are my dear mothers
They’re down in the valley praying
Day is a’breaking in my soul
O where are my dear fathers
O where are my dear fathers
They’ve gone up to heaven shouting
Day is a’breaking in my soul
Bright morning stars are rising
Bright morning stars are rising
Bright morning stars are rising
Day is a’breaking in my soul
I am an orphan on God’s highway
But I’ll share my troubles if you go my way
I have no mother no father
No sister no brother
I am an orphan girl
I have had friendships pure and golden
But the ties of kinship I have not known them
I know no mother no father
No sister no brother
I am an orphan girl
But when He calls me I will be able
To meet my family at God’s table
I’ll meet my mother no father
No sister no brother
No more an orphan girl
Blessed Savior make me willing
And walk beside me until I’m with them
Be my mother no father
No sister no brother
No more an orphan girl
I am an orphan girl
Have a little song, won’t take long
Sing it right, once or twice
O lordy me, didn’t I shake sugaree
Everything I got is done and pawned
Pawn my chair, pawn my bed
Ain’t got nowhere to lay my head
O lordy me, didn’t I shake sugaree
Everything I got is done and pawned
Pawned my tobacce, pawned my pipe
Pawned everything that was in my sight
O lordy me, didn’t I shake sugaree
Everything I got is done and pawned
Have a little secret, ain’t gonna tell
I’m going to heaving in a brown pea shell
O lordy me, didn’t I shake sugaree
Everything I got is done and pawned
Pawned my farm, pawned my plow
Pawned everything, even pawned my old cow
O lordy me, didn’t I shake sugaree
Everything I got is done and pawned
Chew my tobacco, spit my juice
We raise cain and it ain’t no bit a’use
O lordy me, didn’t I shake sugaree
Everything I got is done and pawned
Have a little secret, ain’t gonna tell
I’m going to heaven and I ain’t gonna….
O lordy me, didn’t I shake sugaree
Everything I got is done and pawned
We grow the food, the food
The food of the nation, the whole wide creation
We will get down (we will get down)
on that fertile ground (on the fertile ground)
Because we love to work it out and sing the tune
We will get down (we will get down)
on that fertile ground (on the fertile ground)
Because we love to work it out and sing the tune
We got the animals, the animals
The animals of the nation, the whole wide creation
We will get down (we will get down)
on that fertile ground (on the fertile ground)
Because we love to work it out and sing the tune
We will get down (we will get down)
on that fertile ground (on the fertile ground)
Because we love to work it out and sing the tune
Ooooooh oooooooh ooooooooooooh (2x)
We got the remedy, the remedy
The remedy of the nation, the whole wide creation
We will get down (we will get down)
on that fertile ground (on the fertile ground)
Because we love to work it out and sing the tune
We will get down (we will get down)
on that fertile ground (on the fertile ground)
Because we love to work it out and sing the tune
Ooooooh oooooooh ooooooooooooh (2x)
Everytime the bluebird sings
My heart takes the wings to the sky
With bluebird’s grace I fly
To my place in your eye
But after all I did all I could
And you did you best, just the same
Nobody won, we both lost
No one’s to blame
But I fly away to you
If only pretending
We’ll be like bluebirds do
A beautiful lie
A beautiful lie
Live the beautiful lie
Everytime the bluebird sings
My heart takes the wings to the sky
With bluebird’s grace I fly
To my place in your eye
But after all I did all I could
And you did you best, just the same
Nobody won, we both lost
No one’s to blame
But I find my way to you
If I’m only pretending
We’ll be like bluebirds live
Live the beautiful lie
We’ll be like bluebirds
Live the beautiful lie