[Verse 1] Beneath the hill where heather bends I’ve kept this grove through rain and cold I’ve known the shy, I’ve known the proud I’ve known the young, I’ve known the old The oak still reaches for the sky The thorn still guards her patch of ground And roots below the darkened earth Hold every grief without a sound [Verse 2] I’ve heard them call for warmth and light I’ve heard them curse the shade they knew The tall ones want another hour The small ones want the wide wind too Each thinks the other branch is blessed Each wears its wound like it’s the first Yet every root drinks from the dark And every leaf must learn its thirst [Chorus] Under elder boughs Every crown comes down Every hand that clawed for sky must meet the ground Through the wind and weather I still hold them together Under elder boughs [Verse 3] Some rose straight and some grew bent Some caught the sun and some did not Some learned to live on broken light And guard what little grace they got But frost will find us all the same On bark and thorn, on branch and vine And wind will never ask our worth As it moves through fir and pine [Bridge] Not by fire and not by hand Not by any will we own Loss and passing years alone Make the deepest truths be known For the branch that boasts of morning And the fern that hides away Drink alike from one dark water Though they turn their eyes away [Final Chorus] Under elder boughs Every crown comes down Proud and broken, all at last must meet the ground Through the wind and weather I still hold them together I bless what time allows Under elder boughs
