[Verse 1] At the edge of Ironwood County There’s a church without a bell Just a frame of blackened timber And a floor sunk down to hell Preacher died there in the winter Face turned up and mouth half wide As if he saw the roof split open And stepped through before he died [Verse 2] Now the folks go there on Sundays Not to pray and not to sing But to stand among the pine roots And hear what the cold might bring For when the wind moves through the rafters It don’t sound like empty air It sounds like a buried gospel Trying hard to gather there [Chorus] Ironwood gospel Low and grave Ironwood gospel No soul saved Ironwood gospel Through the beams A hymn for the waking And the dead who dream [Verse 3] I brought my mother there in springtime When her coughing had gone deep She knelt down in the rotten doorway And asked the Lord to let her sleep No answer came in thunder No comfort came in flame Just a crow moving in the branches And the old floor saying her name [Bridge] Maybe every faith goes broken Maybe every prayer goes wild Maybe God still hears the mountain But He left men to the pines and child [Final Chorus] Ironwood gospel Low and grave Ironwood gospel No soul saved Ironwood gospel Through the beams A hymn for the waking And the dead who dream
