DANClNG IN THE Martin Murphey
When the snow-fields thaw and the stream beds to the waterfall and river, I'll turn my face to the green space of the mother, my life-giver. No man has made a ring of jade like green in the husk. No man own a turquoise stone as deep blue as the dusk. So come away from your working day and laugh and let your go, And bring along an song for dancing in the meadow.
Leave your bedside for a moonlight ride the midnight air is warmer. sing for the quail and the cottontail who still escapes the farmer. Deep plum and bramble bushes where the quiet creatures hide Are part of me, a mystery which I with pride. If I must and lay all day like a march hare in hedgerow, When the gone, it's all night long, for dancing in the meadow.
When the summer's over and come October when the air is crisper, In the mist and smoke by the oak, I'll listen to the branches whisper. Barn dancers reel, the furrowed must yield and quickly turn. Harvest gone, the hoot-owl song is one we now learn. "Who, who, who are you?" and "If you, who said so?" "Who it be?" "It's only me. I'm dancing in the meadow."
When the seasons and the hourglass has all too quickly shattered, You'll lay me low beneath the and wonder if I mattered. Late in the night, your hair white will surely stand on end. hear me sing, my banjo ring, the voice of your old friend. If you get brave, run to my and holler, "Are you dead?" "No!" No tombstone can my bones. I'm dancing in the meadow.
[Sung by Michael Martin on "Swans against the Sun" and "Wildfire 1972-1984."]