She Sings

John: vocal & guitar
Bryn Davies: bass
Stuart Duncan: fiddles

The mockingbird sings in the sycamore tree
The frogs call at night by the lake
Down at the river I hear the sad song
As the ducklings cry out for the drake
The swallows dart out to and fro from the barn
With a melody perfect and clear
While here in the kitchen the sweetest of music:
She sings as though no one can hear

The songs of her father from an ocean away
The ones that he taught her alone
Tangos, boleros, lost in the years
The ones that still take her back home
Home, where the palms wrestle rhythm from wind
Where the dancing is feral and free
Where the Moor and the Spaniard and the Arawok blend
And she sings these sweet songs just for me

Some will call out to mark their small place
While others are courting a mate
Some warn of danger or gather their children
I hear their voice early and late
I wander this wide world surrounded by song
What wonders do daily appear
But of this I am sure, there is nothing so pure
As her singing as no one can hear

June 19, 2012
Smoke Rise, GA
©2012 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)