Mother kept a Bible Wrapped up in blackened lace Said the men within our bloodline Were born with borrowed days Porch light flickers dread The winter moon turned red Every son was heard whispering From the river by the dead My father never spoke much Just drank and watched the rain But I heard him cry at midnight Calling out forgotten names Said his daddy saw a woman Standing barefoot in the wheat With a noose of silver ivy And no shadow at her feet And the old folks sang— Don’t dig too deep Where the willow roots grow Don’t be asking why the creek runs black below Every curse gets hungry, every debt comes due The dead ain’t really gone, they still remember you There’s a mark behind my shoulder Like a burn that never fades Every firstborn in the family Carries it into the grave Mama swore a preacher told her It was older than our name Something followed from the old world Crossed the ocean wrapped in chains So we leave an empty place setting Every Sunday after dark And no one ever whistles Near the crossroads after dusk Cause my uncle laughed about it Then disappeared one spring Found his boots beside the quarry But no trace of anything And the old folks sang— Don’t dig too deep Where the willow roots grow Don’t be asking why the creek runs black below Every curse gets hungry, every debt comes due The dead ain’t really gone, they still remember you Now my daughter asks me questions About the knocking in the walls Why the dogs all howl together When there's nothing there at all I tell her stories softly Like they were told to me Half them warning, half confession Half prayer she’ll still be free [Fiddle solo] But tonight the windows rattled Though the air outside stood still I hear footsteps in the valley Slowly climbing up the hill Then a voice just like my father’s From the darkness near the stairs: “You can run from what was buried— But it’s waiting in your heirs.” And the old folks sang— Don’t dig too deep Where the willow roots grow Don’t be asking why the creek runs black below Every curse gets hungry, every debt comes due The dead ain’t really gone, they still remember you Every curse keeps breathing while the truth is hid This house still remembers what our bloodline did Yeah, they still remember you
