Refusing to Rest

I left my name

Somewhere down that quiet road

Where the reeds bend low

Where the blackbird watched and knows

Half a soul

Staring in a broken glass

Couldn’t meet my own two eyes

As the years slipped past

I wore my grief

Like a coat that never dried

Every toast in every bar

Just another way to hide

Old songs played

I could barely hear the tune

Only echoes in my chest

Only empty rooms

From ash

From ash

I rise

Like a fire in the Irish skies

From the bog

From the bone

From the stone-cold night

I remember who I am in the morning light

From ash

From ash

I burn

Every broken promise now a lesson learned

With my heart

With my word

I will stand once more

In strength

In love

In honor at your door

[low vocal register] I walked the hill

Where my father used to stand

Wind like a warning

Rain washing through my hands

Knee in the mud

I could taste the bitter ground

Heard his rough old blessing

In the rush of sound

“My Heart,

You bend

But you do not break

You can lose your way

But not what’s at stake”

I felt that flame

In the hollow of my chest

Tiny

Stubborn

Refusing to rest

I lay my shame on the river stones

Let the current cut it clean from my bones

I speak my truth with a steady tongue

Every crooked chapter

Still part of the one

I plant my feet in the soaking earth

Claim my sorrow

Claim my worth

I lift my eyes to the rising sun

Say

“I am not finished

I have just begun”

[whispered vocals] From ash

From ash

I rise

Low whistle keens across the fields

Bodhrán heartbeat

Steady as a vow

I walk back home

I am here

I am now