The Grinding Wheel
Words & Music by Gordon Peterson
It was out in the wasteland
and the boar was standing still
I was hanging like a reptile
with the fire down below
So I climbed the big scene
to watch the river flow
Kachina never spoke of weather
nor the mercy on a bed of nails
But someone should have checked the waterline
they’re drowning in among the kills
and this winter Comes like a bitter vine
There is a place there by that broken tower
A den of preachers couldn’t keep at bay
Bound to the current of an open sea
We are too afraid to listen
Long before that day
In the guise of water
There came a desert rain
And the Grinding Wheel will turn
and to that sea we can follow her down
Where there is room for the meek
far from the din and the squalor
High on the gunfire
Far from the wheel
Hands never touch the bodies
and eyes never see the sun
I lie awake in this season
and stay close to the open road
As they go dancing in the fields
Digging deep for that motherlode
And down in the mill
It’s just a bird in the big blue sky
A lion in the wheel
Is just a stone in the deep blue sea
Long before that day
In the guise of water
There came a desert rain
And the Grinding Wheel will turn
and to that sea we can
follow her down
Where there is room for the
meekfar from the din and the squalor
And the Grinding Wheel will turn
a better road for the fallow and sane
Where there is room for the meek
far from the din and the squalor
She dances alone by the waterline
Find another cheek to turn away
While the boar lies still inside the naked
Spirit...come to me

This Golden Land
Words & Music by Gordon Peterson
It was just as it was written
when we found our angel
beating like an ember on the fire
There was a calmness
green a pasture
that stayed the vicious and the wanton
Light on the water
Light on the water
Light on the water
Light on the water
But just like the fable of that
old river rising
we built no boat for this water
And we danced to the heavens
Bore fruit to the sky
All for a painful genuflection
For the hand that brought the mercy
Took the water and burned the well
So wait for this golden land
To come again
All before the mercy chair
Before the rifle or the greed
Before the violence or the
endless ways of slaughter
There was a sound of reason here
That fed the hungry and
clothed the naked
I felt the healing waters flow
We kissed the sleeping heads
of the birds, fish and buffalo
And we wait for that water
and pray for that flame
and when that great flood had ended
Then we praised the swollen river
The fire all through the hills
And we wait for this golden land
to burn again
How can you swallow an endless sky
With this passive devotion
We must have drank the river dry
How can you take what is given
How can the hand that brings the mercy
Take the water and burn the well
and let us wait for
this golden land
If we praise the swollen river
Fire all through the hills
Will we wait for this golden land

Life Lies Down
Words & Music by Gordon Peterson
I have a dream where I die
I have a dream where I listen
The birds of the morning have sun strange skin
There is a fish on the shore
The same that came down from the river
This is the world of the rose and thorn
Life lies down
and the world still spins round
I lay on for this time I have found…home
Out in the bullrush and steel
The tide has gone and forgiven
For each breath and quiver of sand and stone
Still comes the hum of that bird
A beat of a drum in a meadow
that stays to deliver this sight from limb
Life lies down and the world still spins round
I lay on for this time I have found…home
I have the blood to ride out this storm
If I can just keep the wind under these wings
Like I did once before
Hands on an ocean
I was the sailor
For one more time
Life lies down and the world still spins round
I lay on
for this time I have found…home