The Way It Goes

from The Swan by Old Sap

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lyrics

This morning the river was all clear and green,
sunlight graced the pines and kissed the snow.
On the river drifted ice broken off from far upstream,
and it followed the way it had to go.

Last night it was freezing, the air was so unkind
my cigarette kept going out on me.
But the habit of a smoker is to fight against the wind,
and I didn’t move until I had my three.

All these little golden things
bind the flower to the bee.
I can’t tell you how to keep your mind—
your way is yours to find.

Two days ago a riot in the street left seven dead—
I don’t know their names.
There are holes on the hills where the families dug the graves,
still the sun sets the same.

In the morning I couldn’t believe my eyes:
mountains shining as everything alive sings,
‘The world has always held our suffering
and turned it into flowers in the Spring.’

Explosions all around the earth,
the sky is grey and orange and green.
Torches burning for rebirth—
this the way it has to be

All these little golden things
bend the flower to the bee.
I can’t tell you how to keep your mind—
your way is yours to find.

credits

from The Swan, released May 13, 2016

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about

Old Sap Asheville, North Carolina

Old Sap is a poet-banjoist currently located in Western North Carolina.

Folk, Folk Rock, and Americana.

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