"I wrote this in the bittersweet aftermath of my year in the wilderness. An unusually wet year in the desert had seduced me to abandon a budding love affair in the city, and, contemplating the inevitability of both renewal and loss, I was feeling deeply philosophical.
"I had the lyrics in hand when drummer Michael Corbett came over to join me in a studio I had rented in downtown Oakland. He started a rhythm on the talking drum, I began singing, and the song emerged, complete."
Lyrics
rocks travel in the form of sand
lie still under moonlight
rocks travel in the form of sand
lie still under moonlight
when we first came the wash lay dry for years
now from winter rains a stream grows
when we first came the wash lay dry for years
now from winter rains a stream grows
reaches, persists, and shrinks into the heat of summer
reaches, persists, and shrinks into the heat of summer
thin channeled and choked with green
algae in the shorter days of fall
heavy showers push sheets of sand
as far down the wash as they will go
heavy showers push sheets of sand
as far down the wash as they will go
running water is my special reward
running water is my special reward
the long droughts and miraculous abundance
are the whole cloth within which my life has grown
the long droughts and miraculous abundance
are the whole cloth within which my life has grown
in all directions
like coyote melon
in all directions
like seep milkweed
time means things are always there,
but sometimes buried
time means things keep flowing,
but the pattern keeps returning
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