Samuel Lockridge Woodland Hymn lyrics

Though stormy skies shook the trees
of clinging leaves, I sat beneath.
O, who has taught the spider's legs to spin
even then, even then?

Such thin and fine gossamer thread
now formed a halo above my head.
Before the night was done, I did intend
my heart to mend, my heart to mend.

I saw a red and white mare
with eyes as blue as the Aegean.
She told me, “Hands and lips are for praying,
so sing with me, sing with me.”

She said, “If you must weep, my dear,
weep not for darkness, weep not for fear.
All things that rise and fall shall pass away
at break of day, at break of day.”


A wolf cub pawed at my cheek
and bade me, “Nestle down and go to sleep.
The howls you hear at night that raise your hairs
are only prayers, only prayers.”

So, long I laid beneath those limbs
and listened to the woodland hymns,
‘til pale dawn's light first whispered through the wood,
and I understood, I understood.

Silent One, behind my eyes, breath of life,
unseen gaze, peering out from every face.

No living thing, how wild or tame,
alone can bear the darkness and the rain.
The One who taught them each their harmony to sing,
rise up in me, rise up in me like steam.