Roots of Karametra - Trade Me Seeds Instead

The old strip mall’s a greenhouse now Tomatoes climbing shattered glass Every storefront glows with lanterns And Mullein Leaf smoke instead of ads No barcode scanners humming No desperate lines at dawn Just elders trading pepper seeds Beside the overgrown pond A woman hands me purple beans Wrapped inside a stitched cloth bag “These came from my grandmother Back before the flood years passed.” No one owns the harvest here The garden moves through every hand And every seed remembers The people and the land Trade me seeds instead Trade me stories, trade me rain Trade me something living That can come back once again If you wanna build tomorrow now Trade me seeds instead The railroad tracks grow strawberries The parking lots bloom squash and thyme Children paint old vending machines With flowers twisting through the sides And every Sunday by the river The whole district gathers near Trading jars of herbs and honey For repaired boots and homemade beer Nobody getting rich from hunger Nobody hoarding what they need Because the strongest thing you can own Is something that keeps making seeds No one owns the harvest here The garden moves through every hand Now the gardens teach abundance By the way the green world gives Trade me seeds instead Trade me labor, trade me light Trade me songs for garlic cloves No starving left unfed If you wanna build tomorrow now Trade me seeds instead If you wanna build tomorrow now Trade me seeds instead Backroad basil in a basket by the bayou bend Bean pods, black soil, brothers bringin’ bloom again Sweet mint, sage stems, scattered in the southern wind Sun-drenched seedlings shiftin’ through the settlements No more sellin’ souls for silver-coated skeletons We swap squash, snap peas, saplings by the tenement Big-box burial, broken brick battlements Now the block breathe back through basil and benevolence Cedar smoke settle while the kettle keep singin’ Children in the creek while the cricket choir ringin’ Greed got gutted when the green roots gripped it Now the people plant peace and the whole earth listens Trade me seeds instead Trade me rivers, trade me bread Trade me every living thing The dying world forgets If you wanna touch forever now Trade me seeds instead