One River

[Verse 1] Rain falls down on the courthouse roof, then runs through a poor man’s field, feeds the corn and rusts the gate, touches everything concealed. You can draw your lines across the dirt, drive your posts and claim your name, but the river never learned your law, and the clouds don’t play that game. [Pre-Chorus] Same water in the rich man’s glass, same water in the ditch, same storm beating every door, never asking poor or rich. [Chorus] I hear one river running under every name, one breath moving through us, one blood feeding every flame. And I howl because they cannot see the root beneath the tree, every living thing on earth is tied to you and me. (Long deep blues howl) Ooooooh, tied to you and me. [Verse 2] Iron burning in my blood was born inside a dying star, the dust beneath my working boots has traveled farther than we are. A leaf falls dead beside the road, feeds the worm and feeds the grain, what disappears becomes the ground, then rises up again. [Pre-Chorus] Nothing leaves this world alone, nothing stands apart, every hand that wounds the earth will feel it in the heart. [Chorus] I hear one river running under every name, one breath moving through us, one blood feeding every flame. And I howl because they cannot see the root beneath the tree, every living thing on earth is tied to you and me. [Steel Guitar Interlude] (Slow steel guitar wail, sparse and mournful; upright bass and restrained drums continue underneath) [Verse 3] They poison water down the line and swear it won’t come home, they cut the forest to the bone and call the damage gone. But smoke returns inside the lung, and hunger crosses every wall, you cannot make one corner bleed without it touching all. [Bridge] Maybe someday we will learn what every root already knows, nothing takes without return, nothing lives alone. The grave becomes the grass again, the grass becomes the breath, life keeps passing through our hands, even through our death. [Final Chorus] I hear one river running under every name, one breath moving through us, one blood feeding every flame. And I howl until they finally see the root beneath the tree, every soul that walks this earth is tied to you and me. (Long primal howl, rising with steel guitar) Ooooooh, tied to you and me. [Outro] One river. One breath. One ground beneath our feet. You may forget the bond between us. But the bond does not forget.