When I rise
Let me rise
Like a bird
With no regret
Joyfully.
When I fall
Let me fall
Like a leaf
With no regret
Gracefully.
I will go farther than those hills
Farther than the seas
Close to the stars to beg my Lord to return to me
The soul I had of old,
Of when I was a child
Ripened with ledgends,
A feathered cap and a wooden sword
Fighting to see the wild restored.
Everything that has breath moves my bones
To bow my head upon he mossy stone
But not bow down in submission
âcause I donât need permission
to exist, resist, or die,
or ask for reasons why.
The year that I became a man
I pulled my head out of the sand
And saw the sun awake a sleeping earth
And ask her to return to Him.
The year that I became a man
I learned to work with my own hands,
I lit a fire and watched the smoke
Carry all my carbon cares away.