Donna Martin: Listen

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• MP3 short clip, lo-fi play (modem)

there's an ancient tree by the riverbed
you can reach the arms out on fifteen men
to circle her where she meets the land
on a summer day I come and watch her stand
the wind there moves light across her leaves
close your eyes and let yourself believe
that you can hear the sound of a southern man
running for his life to the promised land

there's a hole in the ground just beyond the hill
stones all around you can get a chill
if you daydream back a hundred years or so
to the day those stones showed the way to go
I walk this way just to feel the wind
sun on my face as the day begins
I'm a native where this river bends
a foreigner to where it's been

cold black water they say that it runs
to hell and back again yet it knows somebody loves
enough to hold you in the quiet till the final word
is freedom

there's a ghost in the field just beyond the bend
snapping the grass with a ship of wind
I pull my hat below my ears
waiting for something to appear
I choose my footsteps with respect
for everybody who stuck out their neck
to do what's right to tow the line
back to where it serves mankind

chorus

there's treasure in a story that takes a fiery cross
and turns it into hands reaching out, reaching out
into that cold black water

chorus