This I Know

14 years ago today my father died. I was cutting wood with a chainsaw today and it reminded me of the many times I worked with him in the “woods”. He could be so easy going. The last time I was working with him, I cut my leg with the saw. Several jagged cuts in a line actually. I kept cutting until I saw blood and peeked through the holes in my pants. The cuts were pretty deep. Dad took a look and said,”you better go to the hospital in Alberton and get some stitches”. Then he reached in his pocket and threw me the keys to the van. I had to laugh at how nonplussed he was about it. I drove to Alberton. For some reason I didn’t have a health card but the doctor was on his last shift before heading to a new job in Florida and really didn’t care. There was no nurse available so the doctor got me to hold the thread as he cut his stitches. That was a typical day “Up West” and I still laugh about it. Dad certainly had his way of doing things.

After my dad’s death, these words came as a comfort to me. I wrote the song in grief but also in peace. My father didn’t leave a big estate in his will but he passed on to me his voice and timing and his love of an audience. He sang wholeheartedly and I rarely reach that level of performance. I remember the time I asked him up for a song at a local traditional pub. In the middle of a particularly raucous ballad, he spied a musket hanging on the wall and proceeded to take it off its perch and use it as a prop. Aiming it around the room as he sang, several people hid behind tables or headed out the door. The following week, the musket was back on the wall, but chained and padlocked in place. He had a way of making a song memorable.

This I Know

Every summer turns to winter Every branch will bend and wither When the last light fades and flickers Turns to shadow Frees the soul

In the giving there’s a taking With the building there’s a breaking In the sleeping and the waking God is waiting this I know God is waiting this I know

Every season ends tomorrow Every face will turn in sorrow Every day we live is borrowed Turns to shadow Frees the soul

In the taking there’s a giving In the sorrow there’s a singing Every voice a new beginning God is living this I know God is living this I know

Every son and every daughter Everyone must cross the water On their journey to the Father Where we hope To rest our souls

In the giving there’s a taking With the building there’s a breaking In the sleeping and the waking God is waiting this I know God is waiting this I know