The olive trees don't ask If anyone is coming back They grow their fruit for no one They split the stone and crack The almond blooms in winter When the rest of life retreats It flowers for the cold alone And calls the frost its feast And I have been a traveler So long I've lost the taste For rooms that hold their warmth all night For tables set with place Could I be a stone orchard? Could I learn to stay? Could I let my roots go deeper Than the distance of a day? Could I be a stone orchard? Could I learn to hold? Or am I just a wind that passes Through the branches getting old? They offered me a doorway With a lintel carved in Greek They offered me a garden plot And water from the creek They offered me a purpose — Help us build, help us mend And I stood there like a ruin Pretending I could bend Because the walker fears the stillness Like the flame that fears the rain If I stop I must feel everything I've been outrunning pain Could I be a stone orchard? Could I learn to stay? Could I let my roots go deeper Than the distance of a day? Could I be a stone orchard? Could I learn to hold? Or am I just a wind that passes Through the branches getting old? You have walked enough I don't know how to stop The road will wait for you The road is all I've got These people are not ghosts Everyone becomes a ghost Not if you stay Not if I stay Stone orchard Stone orchard Teach me how to stand In one place long enough To understand
