I’m reposting this series of blog posts because as I type, there are bulldozers in Big Bend National Park. There are scared, evil people building walls on sacred desert ground, while the wicked ones paint golden calves to worship. This series represents the collective experiences and thoughts of three women who set out on a 1,500 mile trek across West Texas in December 2003. Development, tourism, climate change and politics have altered the area a lot since then, but this was their unforgettable “Road Trip: Big Bend.”
Gulf Coast Highway
Gulf coast highway, he worked the rails
He worked the rice fields with their cold dark wells
He worked the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico
The only thing we’ve owned is this old house here by the road
And when he dies he says he’ll catch some blackbird’s wing
And we will fly away to heaven
Come some sweet blue bonnet spring
She walked through springtime when I was home
The days were sweet, our nights were warm
The seasons changed, the jobs would come
The flowers fade, and this old house felt so alone
When the work took me away
And when she dies she says she’ll catch some blackbird’s wing
And she will fly away to heaven
Come some sweet blue bonnet spring
Highway 90, the jobs are gone
We kept our garden, we set the sun
This is the only place on Earth blue bonnets grow
And once a year they come and go
At this old house here by the road
And when we die we say we’ll catch some blackbird’s wing
And we will fly away to heaven
Come some sweet blue bonnet spring
Yes when we die we say we’ll catch some blackbird’s wing
And we will fly away together
Come some sweet blue bonnet spring
Songwriters: Danny Flowers / James Brown / Nanci Griffith
randomactsofwriting.net 