There’s an old pear tree behind the church Half swallowed by the fence Every August kids climb up its limbs Like the fruit is heaven-sent Nobody talks about who planted it Or whose hands turned over the ground Most folks only see the harvest Nobody sees what came before now And I stood there in the evening Watching shadows stretch and roam Thinking that old tree looked mighty Thinking it had made it on its own Nobody grows alone Not the orchard, not the pine Not the berry on the hillside Not this stubborn heart of mine Every root has touched another Every river meets the sea I spent years chasing independence Till the living world disagreed Nobody grows alone That’s the secret I’ve been shown Saw a monarch by the rail yard Floating through the summer heat Till it found a patch of milkweed Growing wild beside the street Funny thing, I’d walked that pathway Hundreds of times before Never stopped to think that one life Might depend upon another more Then I started looking closer At the fields and streams I knew And every living thing I noticed Had a thread running through Nobody grows alone Not the orchard, not the pine Not the berry on the hillside Not this stubborn heart of mine Every root has touched another Every river meets the sea I spent years chasing independence Till the living world disagreed Nobody grows alone That’s the secret I’ve been shown Mrs. Alvarez saves tomato seeds In jars above her sink Hands them out each springtime Without asking what folks think Three streets over there’s a garden Blooming where a lot once stood Children pulling food from soil Never knowing why they could A song gets passed around a campfire A recipe moves house to house The best things tend to travel quietly Without announcing themselves out loud Nobody grows alone Not the orchard, not the pine Not the berry on the hillside Not this stubborn heart of mine Every root has touched another Every river meets the sea I spent years chasing independence Till the living world disagreed Nobody grows alone That’s the secret I’ve been shown Nobody grows alone
