(Leanne Hinton) For the land knows you're there
And the land knows you're there
And the rocks and trees and rivers
Give you friendship and care
I know some people who live in the north
They've lived there since Columbus and many years before
They live in the wilderness where few ever go
But they say that in that land no one can be alone
And every rock and tree has a name of its own
You call out that you're coming as you journey through the land
You never can be lonely, alone though you may seem
For a tree is like a person and it keeps you company
You give a happy greeting when you come to a spring
As if it were a relative or a long-lost friend
And when you've sat and rested and drunk your fill
You give the spring a Thank you and a fond farewell
When you come into a new land that you have never known
You bend and touch the soil and you tell it why you've come
You tell it where you're going, you tell it where you've been
For they say that if you're kind to it the land will be your friend
When a man is very old and his life is near its end
He takes a final journey to say farewell to the land
He tells it not to miss him and he tells it not to mourn
But to learn to live without him when he is dead and gone
This northern land is healthy, on love and care it thrives
But back down in my home town, they forgot the land's alive
They've polluted every river and they leveled every hill
But underneath the concrete, the land is living still
(as sung by Guy & Candie Carawan)
Susannes Folksong-Notizen English Notes
