She Keeps the Garden

There's a woman down on Hollow Creek Road

Where the kudzu grows thick and the soil stays cold

She's got mason jars lined on her windowsill

Full of things that used to move until they went still

The neighbors don't visit, they just drive on past

Cross themselves twice and they step on the gas

But I saw her smile when the lightning struck

And I heard her laugh when the well dried up

She keeps the garden where nothing should grow

Plants something different in each fresh row

She's got green thumb magic and a dark, dark heart

And roots run deep when you tear folks apart

Tear folks apart

Met her at the market on a Sunday morn

She wore a dress white as the day she was born

Said"Boy, you look hungry, you look half-fed"

Then she smiled at me with teeth too red

She told me secrets 'bout the town folk

Who disappeared the night the churchhouse smoked

Said"The earth takes payment for what it gives

And honey, something's gotta die so something lives"

She keeps the garden where nothing should grow

Plants something different in each fresh row

She's got green thumb magic and a dark, dark heart

And roots run deep when you tear folks apart

Tear folks apart

Now they say she's been here since before the trees

That she knew the secret of the oldest seeds

That she bargained with the thing beneath the ground

And it taught her how to keep men bound

I asked her once:"Ma'am, what makes them bloom?"

She said"Same thing that grows in a fresh-dug tomb—

A little bit of sorrow, a little bit of blame,

And something warm that used to have a name"

So if you're driving down on Hollow Creek Road

And you see her standing where the kudzu grows

Don't look too long at her garden gate

Don't compliment her flowers or seal your fate

'Cause she'll invite you in for coffee or tea

She'll tell you"Darlin', stay and visit with me"

And when you wake up, you'll be in the ground

Pushing up posies without a sound

She keeps the garden where nothing should grow

Plants something different in each fresh row

She's got green thumb magic and a dark, dark heart

And roots run deep when you tear folks apart

Yeah, she keeps the garden where the lost ones go

Where she plants them careful in each blessed row

She's got communion magic and a stone-cold art

And roots run deep, Lord, they tear you apart

There's a woman down on Hollow Creek Road

And her garden's always full

But nobody knows

Nobody knows

Nobody knows...