[Intro] [Verse 1] The field's cut down to stubble and the light comes in more gold, the same field that was green as anything four short months old. And nobody stands out there and weeps for what the summer had — you bring the harvest in, and you're grateful, and you're glad. [Verse 2] My grandfather worked this ground, and his hands went hard as oak, and the year he couldn't work it anymore, he barely spoke — just sat there on the porch rail with a blanket and a view, and watched the maples turn, and said, "Well. Look what they can do." [Chorus] It's the turning. It's the turning. Same as it's always been. The green goes gold, the gold goes down, and the whole thing comes back green again. Don't you fear the turning. It was always, always the deal — the ground don't lose a single thing. It just... lets it go a while. [Verse 3] So I'm not gonna dread the grey come, or the bare come, or the cold, I'll rake the leaves off my own roof and I'll do like I've been told — stack the wood, and bank the fire, and let the daylight shrink, 'cause the ones who fought the turning never got the time to think. [Chorus] It's the turning. It's the turning. Same as it's always been. The green goes gold, the gold goes down, and the whole thing comes back green again. Don't you fear the turning. It was always, always the deal — the ground don't lose a single thing. It just... lets it go a while. [Bridge] Grandpa's in the ground now, up the hill behind the field. And the maples over him went gold this week, and I stood still, and I heard him plain as morning, in that dry old way he had: "Well. Look what they can do." And I wasn't even sad. [Final Chorus] It's the turning. It's the turning. Same as it's always been. The green goes gold, the gold goes down, and the whole thing comes back green again. Don't you fear the turning. It was always, always the deal — the ground don't lose a single thing. It just... lets it go a while. [Outro] (spoken, easy) Wood's stacked. Fire's lit. (beat) Let it come.
