This song is based on a story from Marilyn Robinson's Gilead.
lyrics
VERSE 1:
The news came in a package of my grandfathers things
A watch a beat up Bible and some notes of inquiry
He’d left to free the captives through the gospel that he preached
Then he’d died somewhere in Kansas without kin or kind to grieve
CHORUS 1:
The full moon was rising as the sun was going down
And my father prayed for pardon for his soul here on the ground
_to TURN (same as intro)
VERSE 2:
From Iowa to Kansas, my father and I walked
The food was scarce the road was swamped, with dust and ruts and rocks
My father told me stories, as I walked next to his side
Stories meant for walking, he wouldn’t tell me otherwise
_to CHORUS 1
_to TURN
BRIDGE:
We finally found the graveyard, down a long forgotten road
The headstones were askew, the crooked graves were overgrown
We tilled the land and straightened the tombs back to their place
Then we left and started walking to our home so far away
CHORUS:
The full moon was rising as the sun was going down
And my father prayed for pardon for his soul here on the ground
Wanting one last conversation, with his father in this life
To reconcile his angry words, to set his last words right
OUTRO:
And the moon floats up the horizon
And the sun floats down through the sky
And the tombstones stand here beside us
Watching as the stars light up the night
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