[Verse 1] The world went quiet suddenly, the highway came to rest, The Howey had to prove the iron, the Howell to the test. The trucks were moving medicine, the trucks were hauling grain, Running through the empty roads beneath the driving rain. The masks were on the dashboard, the distance was the law, The Howell watched the perimeter with steady, careful awe. We kept the gate at French Lake shut, we kept the home-fire bright, Searching for the normalcy within the lonely night. The acres held the stillness, the lake held all the fear, As we navigated carefully through every heavy year. [Chorus] Oh, the stillness and the strain, in the shadow of the time, When we held the line together in the middle of the climb. The Howell to protect us, the Howey to provide, With the heart of all the family tucked safe and deep inside. The ink and the acre, the iron and the road, We were bearing up the courage to carry on the load. From the hillside to the water, through the dark and through the light, We were holding onto reason with all our human might. [Verse 2] The screens became our windows, the voices on the wire, Were the only way to satisfy the family's deep desire. To gather on the hillside, to stand upon the shore, But we kept our distance standing at the locked and guarded door. The trucks were our salvation, they kept the nation fed, The Howey drove the long haul, while the Howell kept the bread. The kids were all in distant towns, calling on the phone, Learning how to be together while they felt so much alone. We watched the seasons turn again, from winter into spring, Waiting for the quiet sound that better days would bring. [Chorus] Oh, the stillness and the strain, in the shadow of the time, When we held the line together in the middle of the climb. The Howell to protect us, the Howey to provide, With the heart of all the family tucked safe and deep inside. The ink and the acre, the iron and the road, We were bearing up the courage to carry on the load. From the hillside to the water, through the dark and through the light, We were holding onto reason with all our human might. [Bridge] It was a trial by fire, it was a trial of soul, Trying to keep the family and the spirit mostly whole. We learned the value of the air, we learned the value of the touch, Of everything we’d taken for a granted, simple clutch. The Howell and the Howey, the shield and the supply, Watching all the gray clouds as they drifted slowly by. We weren't the ones to panic, we weren't the ones to run, We waited for the healing in the rising of the sun. The 2020s taught us what the foundation truly means, Beneath the heavy pressures of the changing, shifting scenes. [Verse 3] The evening is a soft relief, the world is moving fast, We’re looking back with gratitude that we have seen the past. The twenty-eighth song is a testament to breath, To the Howell and the Howey and the dancing with the death Of all our old assumptions, of all our old ways, Coming out the other side of those long and testing days. The lake is still our harbor, the hillside is our pride, With the lessons of the distance tucked safe and deep inside. We’re stronger for the sorrow, we’re steadier for the strain, Watching all the life return to field and lake and lane. [Chorus] Oh, the stillness and the strain, in the shadow of the time, When we held the line together in the middle of the climb. The Howell to protect us, the Howey to provide, With the heart of all the family tucked safe and deep inside. The ink and the acre, the iron and the road, We were bearing up the courage to carry on the load. From the hillside to the water, through the dark and through the light, We were holding onto reason with all our human might. [Outro] The masks are in the history, the roads are open wide, We’re walking on the French Lake shore, side by steady side. The Howell is the heartbeat, and the Howey is the hand, Holding fast the future of our Minnesota land. The twenty-eighth part is written in the surviving, As we toast to the living and the soul's long striving.
