Mary's Poetry Room

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Across The Great Divide

I’m really feeling this song today. It is my favorite song. I love it for the imagery, Nanci Griffith’s voice, the beautiful lyrics, and the music by Kate Wolf. It is from my all-time favorite album, Other Voices, Other Rooms by Nanci Griffith. Check it out… it is well worth a listen, every song a precious gem. It speaks to me of the mystery of growing older, and wiser, and memory, and making decisions. I loved this song when I was younger, but today it speaks to me even more.

I've been walkin' in my sleep
Countin' troubles 'stead of countin' sheep
Where the years went I can't say
I just turned around and they've gone away

I've been siftin' through the layers
Of dusty books and faded papers
They tell a story I used to know
And it was one that happened so long ago

It's gone away in yesterday
Now I find myself on the mountainside
Where the rivers change direction
Across the Great Divide

Now, I heard the owl a-callin'
Softly as the night was fallin'
With a question and I replied
But he's gone across the borderline

He's gone away in yesterday
Now I find myself on the mountainside
Where the rivers change direction
Across the Great Divide

The finest hour that I have seen
Is the one that comes between
The edge of night and the break of day
It's when the darkness rolls away

And it's gone away in yesterday
Now I find myself on the mountainside
Where the rivers change direction
Across the Great Divide