[Invocation - female call and response] Under root and under stone— Father, are you waking? Through the marrow of the oak— Hear the branches breaking. [Verse 1] Forest keeps the fallen leaf, Sky the feathered height; Creek brings news of iron wheels Across the water's light. Axes notch the older names; Smoke moves through the glen. Something stirs beneath the earth And reaches up again. [Chorus] Father of the hollow, Who will you become? Hands that hold the growing seed, Or hands that blot the sun? Father of the hollow, Wake—the cutting has begun. [Verse 2] He lifts his face to falling rain As though it were a word; He searches in the thrush's throat For something he once heard. We bring him all our sharpened grief, We ask him for a war; He touches one small broken wing And asks us what hands are for. [Chorus] Father of the hollow, Who will you become? Hands that hold the growing seed, Or hands that blot the sun? Father of the hollow, Wake—the cutting has begun. [Bridge - choir circles the lead] Pawpaw dreams beneath the loam; Every root is reaching home. We remember tooth and claw. He remembers something more. [Final Chorus - thunderous] Father of the hollow, Who will you become? Hands that hold the growing seed, Or hands that blot the sun? Father of the hollow, Choose before the axes come. [Outro - one female voice] A leaf unfolds inside his hand. He does not close it yet.
