in the evening and over the land that looks like a sea
she sings her sweet familiar song to me
she’s always singing, if you listen carefully
you can hear her sing
she calls me home
she calls me here
i call her home
this is her song, her prairie song
miles of fresh plowed soil holds hope for the year
rich and somber but always silent to a stranger’s ear
but to her people, she sings of possibilities
you can hear her sing
she calls me home
she calls me here
i call her home
this is her song, her prairie song
growing wheat and growing weeds and toiling horses
these tired men and the sunlight fades into the vast horizon
sullen fires of sunset splash the eternal sky
and still she sings
against all this youthful flames
like wild roses and flash of starlight
in the night, its fierce necessity, sharp desire
it’s singing, and singing, and always singing
and she calls to me
she calls me home
she calls me here
i call her home
this is her song, her prairie song
music & lyrics by kate venable
based off of willa cather’s “prairie spring”
4 Comments
Bethany Aug 17, 2008 1:06 PM
Nice photo.
Did you know that song is based on a Willa Cather poem called “Prairie Spring”?
Evening and the flat land,
Rich and sombre and always silent;
The miles of fresh-plowed soil,
Heavy and black, full of strength and harshness;
The growing wheat, the growing weeds,
The toiling horses, the tired men;
The long empty roads,
Sullen fires of sunset, fading,
The eternal, unresponsive sky.
Against all this, Youth,
Flaming like the wild roses,
Singing like the larks over the plowed fields,
Flashing like a star out of the twilight;
Youth with its insupportable sweetness,
Its fierce necessity,
Its sharp desire,
Singing and singing,
Out of the lips of silence,
Out of the earthy dusk.
Rebecca Aug 17, 2008 1:10 PM
No, I didn’t. Thanks, B! I’ll have to alter the lyrics now–there were a few words I couldn’t quite make out.
charity Aug 18, 2008 4:31 PM
You should paint this.
caron easley Sep 6, 2008 12:42 AM
well. kate and i just finished playing a show together this fine september evening…and i was searching to find her blog…and came across this post. what a great song-writer that kate is!!!