13 – Bounty

DISLAIMER: I am a songwriter first, and singer a very distant second. This song (like most I write) was not written to fit my own vocal register. Props to Adam Bow for helping with recording, mixing, and making it sound as good as it does. Lyrics, vocals and guitar by me, studio magic by Adam (https://twitter.com/adambowmusic).

Lyrics:

How does he know the name of things?
All the bounty nature brings
Ramson, rowan, damson, sloe
Juniper and eryngo
All the woods internalized
Recognized by lightning eyes
Oak and alder, maple, beech
Nut and leaf within his reach
Steady on his booted feet
In underbrush as on a street
The smells and sounds of these surrounds
Dew and sap and old bolete
Finch and rot and dancing brook
Creaking elm and creaking rook
Still as stone or wild as wind
He reads it like an open book

Chorus:

     Fall down in damp October
     Rise up in cold December
     Branches of ash will turn to
     Ash and ember
     Deep in the soil, a heaving
     Like all the world is teething
     Coiled up, the lungs of green are
    always breathing

Bluejay, bullfinch, kite and hawk
Screech and whistle, song and squawk
Sparrow, starling, owl and thrush
In the air or in the lush
In the bare, as autumn’s set
He won’t fare the river yet
Doesn’t dare, and no surprise
Cracking earth and cracking ice
Recognized by lighting eyes

     [Chorus]

Breaking up from below
Time to go. Time to go!

How does he know the name of things?
All the bounty nature brings
Ramson, rowan, damson, sloe
Hidden boar and dappled roe
Steady in the underbrush
In the whisper, in the hush
Waiting for the sudden rise
Bolt away amid the crush
Recognized by lighting eyes

     [Chorus]

Always breathing