Rivers of Grace Ascending

down in the delta where the cotton fields sway river runs muddy carry my blues away sweat on my brow from the break of the dawn plowing this earth till my hands are all warm lost my sweet mama to the fever last spring now the whippoorwill sings like a lonesome thing but i keep on walking these weary old roads carrying the weight of these heavy loads oh the blues come calling in the dead of night stealing my joy but i hold on tight through the storm and the rain i rise up again singing my sorrow till the hurting ends lord have mercy on this rambling soul in the heart of the south where the wild winds blow she left me before the city lights up no promise she'd write but it's been too long of course a moniker wailing like a cry in the dark guitar strings weeping for a broken heart lost man's hollering chain gangs in line picking that bell till the sun starts to shine but deep in my chest there's a fire that burns resilient as the oak where the spanish moss turns oh the blues come calling in the dead of night stealing my joy but i hold on tight through the storm and the rain i rise up again singing my sorrow till the hurting ends lord have mercy on this rambling soul in the heart of the south where the wild winds blow one day i'll lay these burdens down low find peace in the levee where the tall grasses grow no more chains no more tears in my eyes just a river soft whisper under a midnight sky i've been like a willow in the hurricane's gale but my spirit won't break no it never will fail echoes of ancestors in the call and response forces from the fields paying hardships caused blue notes rising like smoke from the fire telling my story lifting me higher from the juke joint shadows to the crossroad sign a dance with the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the wind and the