[00:16.70]Like faithful oxen through the chalk,
[00:21.93]With dragging tails of history walk.
[00:25.72]We soon confuse the compass and the cross.
[00:33.33]Carefully and cursively
[00:37.34]we fill our traveling diaries with loss.
[00:43.41]
[00:50.18]Beneath an angry Bible flood,
[00:55.06]Did you and I first learn to love.
[00:59.44]In my father's car we came to know.
[01:06.36]And shivered in our painted clothes
[01:10.75]and paired like every animal below.
[01:15.37]
[01:23.30]As heavy as a history book can be,
[01:27.12]I will carry it with me, oh Lord.
[01:38.52]And maybe when the bitterness has gone,
[01:42.38]There'll be sweetness on our tongues once more.
[01:49.06]
[01:54.62]Barefoot in a rowing boat,
[01:58.49]You lose your shoes and freeze your toes.
[02:02.78]And say I wear my sorrow like a crown.
[02:09.69]And throw your arms around my head,
[02:13.85]and see it there in gold and red and brown.
[02:19.68]
[02:24.37]As heavy as a history book can be,
[02:28.24]I will carry it with me, oh Lord.
[02:39.51]And maybe when the bitterness has gone,
[02:43.22]There'll be sweetness on our tongues once more.
[02:50.05]
[02:54.93]We'll soon forget our parents' names,
[03:02.29]Like dogs will drive the wolves away.
[03:09.77]And weep with fingertips opposed,
[03:15.00]Like a church where nobody congregates.
[03:19.34]
[03:25.17]But sweetness sings in the pasture,
[03:28.76]We throw ourselves on the mercy of the earth.
[03:32.66]If sand and salt have the answer,
[03:36.09]Then the act itself will be louder than the word.
[03:40.01]And I'll be on your side
[03:52.65]
[03:53.83]But sweetness sings in the pasture,
[03:57.90]We throw ourselves on the mercy of the earth.
[04:01.76]If sand and salt have the answer,
[04:05.06]Then the act itself will be louder than the word.
[04:08.63]And I'll be on your side
[04:22.22]