Song Notes

THE KEEPERS OF THE FIRE – In the teachings of my mothers’ ancestors: “white people” are the keepers of the fire; red people the earth; yellow people the air; and black people the water—and we’re all connected. Many years ago we were burned as the fire rolled across the back of the turtle. In the process of grieving, when there is a supportive and validating environment – there is place when one starts to “move on”. We have joy and we can own the sadness. Blessed are those who mourn for they should be comforted.

In From The Cold

Took the hard road
To a time where worlds forget what they can’t see
Took a rough path to a promised land
I never knew I’d always been
All the time a stranger in a stranger’s land
All the time a prisoner of a false command

Mother I have been gone a long, long time
Mother I have been gone a long, long time
Mother I have been gone a long, long time
I have been lost, in the fire

Great Spirits come
The rivers rise the mountains fall
We are all connected
And all those pieces I had learned to master
and to fit – My own dissection
All the time a stranger in a stranger’s land
All the time a prisoner of a false command

Mother I have been gone a long, long time
Mother I have been gone a long, long time
Mother I have been gone a long, long time
I have been lost, take me, take me

In from the cold: Out of the fire