Hunger

We were children then We drove across this country with the windows down We stopped for gas and ice cream in these reservation towns The curving mountain lanes And the asphalt arrow running through the plains We were lovers then We drove across this country with the windows down We touched those heavy stones that hold this nation to the ground The rocks that have endured; Great paperweights for freedom's written word But these awesome peaks Are not monument enough for our hungry thoughts We must raise a stone for each brave act, for each war fought As if memory's great ship Without these tethered weights would set adrift And we wondered if our love would endure the certain pain And if this land could withstand the crimson stain of our hunger We were dreamers then We drove across this country with the windows down We stopped for gas and coffee in these migrant worker towns We touched those heavy stones And the greatest lakes this ancient Earth has known But these torrent streams Cannot cool the burning of our open pores We must turn our greedy mouths up to the drinking gourd From sea to thirsty sea, these mighty rivers yearning to be free And we wondered if our love would endure the certain pain And if this land could withstand the iron chains of our hunger Oh the hunger. Of our hunger, oh the hunger We are older now We drive across this country with the windows down We stop for gas and bathrooms in these slag heap company towns We buy some pretty stones and fill our tank with prehistoric bones These fossil lakes Are the inkwells for a novel of our times We scratch with furious hands to soothe our feverish minds Though the ink is running dry, we still insist to write upon the sky Oh, this spacious sky Is not poetry enough for our swelling lungs We must write a thousand songs to carry on our tongues Our thoughts will burn so bright We can white the stars out from the sky at night And we wonder if our love will endure the certain pain And if this land can withstand the endless strain of our hunger Oh the hunger. Of our hunger, oh the hunger Will we be lovers then? Will we move across this thirsty land of trading posts? And stop to stretch our tired legs among the hungry ghosts? As o'er the Earth we roam The past will live inside these heavy stones But these pilgrim rocks Are not elegy enough for our aching hearts We must plant a stone for every soul when it departs Until every shady grove is a grinding mouth of molars set in rows And we'll wonder at how our love endured the certain pain As we are swallowed by the land again Oh the hunger. Oh the hunger, oh the hunger, oh the hunger Oh the hunger, oh the hunger