Root and Thorn

I pull the blackberry from the wire And the wire pulls from me Blood and sugar on my fingers This is how the land agrees Wild garlic in the ditch Rosemary on the hill I eat what grows between the cracks And the cracks are eating still Root and thorn Root and thorn Every meal a negotiation Every morning newly born I am not owed this sweetness I am not owed this shade Every fruit is a confession Every thorn the price I've paid The earth does not remember The names we used to call It only knows the ones who kneel And the ones who learn to crawl I sleep inside a riverbed That hasn't run in years The stones still hold the memory Of water's patient tears I dream of rain so heavy It washes bone to white I wake up dry and hungry And I walk into the light Root and thorn Root and thorn Every wound a kind of doorway Every scar a place I'm worn I am not owed this sweetness I am not owed this shade Every fruit is a confession Every thorn the price I've paid The earth does not remember The names we used to call It only knows the ones who kneel And the ones who learn to crawl Aah aah aah aah Aah aah aah aah Root and thorn Root and thorn I am learning how to hunger I am learning to be born