Susan
’From no where, out of thin air
Out of the coldest clay
Susan I can see you, as clear as the day’
For Slow Cooking and for Susan I imagine La Huesera or Bone Woman (from Mexican Myth) who brings back (with her song) that which is in danger of being lost to the world. Time is unwound and (for the duration of the song) the spirit lives again. These are songs of remembrance. Slow Cooking for Grandma and Susan for my Mother.
Lyrics
I’m making a fire, I’m lighting the way in the night
I’ll bring you out of the quiet, nursing the embers for signs of life
I’ll wait by the fire, keeping my faith in the flames
I’ll send you my breath for a wind to catch your sail when I sing your name
Susan, I’m expecting you, any day
Susan, I remember you, every day
Sticks for the fire and a song for the bones
A song that is older, older than stone
As old as the hills, as old as she who knows
One step leads to another, following footprints faded by time
The child will always hold onto the mother
Searching for signs of the life, left behind
I’m watching the fire, I’m seeing your shadow dance on the walls
A choir of voices of sings your name
From nowhere, out of thin air
Out of the coldest clay
Susan I can see you, as clear as the day
We don’t live in straight lines, round and round the earth turns
As sure as the flowers appear in the spring time
As sure as the fire in the sky continues to burn
I’ll remember you