Who Walks That Field

Lyrics

[Verse 1] Where the clay road buckles by the cane, A pale shape crosses through the grain. No face to name, no feet to hear, But every furrow dries when it draws near. [Chorus] Who walks that field when the moon hangs thin? Who takes the green from the roots within? The rows stand still, the crows fly low, Something drinks the life that the dark seeds grow. [Verse 2] Old Miss Ada kept a jar of rain, Said, “Don’t call out when it crosses the plain.” I watched her corn turn silver-gray; By morning, even the worms had gone away. [Chorus] Who walks that field when the moon hangs thin? Who takes the green from the roots within? The rows stand still, the crows fly low, Something drinks the life that the dark seeds grow. [Bridge] Was it a soul that the hard years stole? Was it the land with a hollow soul? I heard no chain, I saw no hand, Just dust rising up where the furrows ran. [Verse 3] I set one seed in a coffee tin, Kept it close where the walls were in. At dawn, the tin was full of loam; The seed had split, though I never sowed. [Final Chorus] Who walks that field when the moon hangs thin? Who takes the green from the roots within? The rows stand still, the crows fly low, Something drinks the life that the dark seeds grow. [Outro] No face to name, no feet to hear, But the empty rows say it’s drawing near.