SUN UP, AND I'M ON MY WAY

Part 2      Anthem For Her Children    (Sharon and Eilleen's Song)

Sun’s not up, but I’m on my way
This is what I do, how I get paid
Hungry for a harvest so distant and gray
As the rains pour down, I cram my bags

I flash my caulks, Hustle my hand,     ( caulks are spiked boots )
Open my pipes, bellow loud as I can
"Get this line moving, down the hill"

I take three steps across this stream
Open a hole and plant my dreams,
I scalp a spot in this mucky clay
It’s10$ by 10$ by 10$ today             ( read 10 by 10)

"Are you strong enough"
              It crows atme
"To grab that sun on this icy day
To plant your forest in a muddy glaze"

"Can you woman, take this band
Gather in grubs from the land
When you’re out of food, do you understand
What our ancestors took for granted"

"Are you woman enough
To follow the hunt
To gut your buffalo on life's frigid bluff
To get it tanned, winter be damned
When you’re out of seed do you understand
There’s nothing here to crow about"                                 (To SC: if you can't follow suit, play trump)

Look, the sun comes up, the sun goes down

I saw my mother out on the line each dawn
Painting her mountain ‘till her hands were raw

When I dream at night, She is full of light
She is my rock, She is my pond
She is my stepping stone to the great beyond

She is my Fountain
She is my River

She is in my arms as I project my sound
It is with her palms, her child I raised
To her I sing each breaking song

It is from her I learned to rattle and shake
The chains and boundaries others staked
To break free from those heckling hounds
I'd rather hear children sounds
Loud, banging, giggling rhymes
Riddles that
Rattle your mind 'til your 99

You can not cage me, do not name me,
Let my circus fly

Sun up, and my wings have spread
I'm planting my trees however I please
Washing a river, scrubbing a stream
Providing a shelter for one woman to scream
To nurse her child, to hear it howl

To let it blow a bunch of jelly fish
Up against the wall
Ouch,
What else do babies do for fun?

Sun up and I’m on my way
Sundown and I’ve raised a family today
Sundown and I’ve nestled my soul in clay
Sundown and another child is saved

Nursing, nursing,

Nursing away
shhh~shh~sh~shhh~shhss
Babies sleeping

 

These two poems are dedicated to (I’m on My Way), Shania Twain
In honor of her parents,   Gerry and Sharon Twain

Gary Lange ©    October, 29   1998