BAD YEAR FOR CANE

The ground grew grey and dead in August
The bed lay barren, just crying for rain
It's been a bad year for the sweet pea harvest
It's been a bad year for the sugar cane
It'll all grow back again
We've all been led by a promise that the heart can mend

He'd wake each day and pray for thunder
And carve like lightning down the rows
And throw his seeds at dreams and numbers
And drink himself like dirt that won't
It'll all grow back again
We've all been led by a promise that the heart can mend

It was a storm last spring that sealed his troubles
When Eva left him in an unmade field
Now he carries that weight, but he drags his shovel
Just waits for the ugly wounds to heal
It'll all grow back again
We've all been led by a promise that the heart can mend

Cause that April day he'd fought the combine
Caught by the arm and the combine won
Now who's to dance with a one-armed farmer
Who's to bandage a one-armed farm

That ground grew grey and dead by August
The bed lay barren, just crying for rain
It's been a bad year for the sweet pea harvest
It's been a bad year for the sugar cane

Copyright 2014. Words and music by Danny Schmidt.