If You and I Were Innocent
The sun would also rise in the west
The best of things would be visible
And big dogs wouldn’t bark like fury
The river stay plain as long as you like
The good cane grown again on the Brazos
But we aren’t really such good innocents
This river's a wild one, I say impassable
And at dawn most days rise invisibly
Barking at the dogs, who bark back at
The riders still as mean as rattlesnakes
And if we were truly innocent, my love
Likely we'd both be in slavery to the road
They done grind it all in molasses, oh, oh, oh!
This century’s bags of innocence, so easy
Old Hannah setting once there to the east
Over a box here, possibly gold, unopened.
© 2014 Rob Schackne
For the musical historian, this great piece by Byrne on the Brazos:
ReplyDeletehttp://bostonreview.net/arts-culture/dave-byrne-ground-down-to-molasses-american-folk