Like faithful oxen through the chalk,
With dragging tails of history walk
Soon confuse the compass and the cross
Carefully and cursively we fill our travelling diaries with loss

Beneath an angry Bible flood,
Did you and I first learn to love
In my father's car we came to know
And shivered in our painted clothes and paired like every animal below

As heavy as a history book can be,
I will carry it with me, oh Lord
And maybe when the bitterness has gone,
There'll be sweetness on our tongues once more

Barefoot in a rowing boat,
You lose your shoes and freeze your toes
And say I wear my sorrow like a crown
And throw your arms around my head, and see it there in gold and red and brown

As heavy as a history book can be,
I will carry it with me, oh Lord
And maybe when the bitterness has gone,
There'll be sweetness on our tongues once more

We'll soon forget our parents' names,
Like dogs will drive the wolves away
And weep with fingertips opposed,
Like a church where nobody congregates

But sweetness sings in the pasture,
We throw ourselves on the mercy of the earth
If sand and salt have the answer,
Then the act itself will be louder than the word

And I'll be on your side