Iron in the Soil

The river stopped moving three days ago

Turned into glass, turned into stone

We left the graves where the willow trees grow

For a promise of land we have never known

The wagon is heavy, the ax is dull

Hunger is a bird circling the skull

I told you, darling, don't look at the sky

The gray is too deep, it will swallow your eye

My hands have forgotten the feel of the grain

Now they only know the bite of the rein

Every mile north is a bargain with pain

Trading the sun for the freezing rain

Silence is louder than the thunder here

It screams in the woods when the night draws near

We are the strangers, we are the ghosts

Drifting like smoke along the posts

There is iron in the soil, there is ice in the vein

You have to break the earth just to bury the name

It's a long, cold road to a rugged claim

And the warmth of the fire is the only aim

Yeah, the warmth of the fire is the only aim

They say the ground here is rich and black

But it demands a life for what it gives back

Don't ask me if we're ever going back

The snow has already covered the track

Covered the track

There is iron in the soil, there is ice in the vein

You have to break the earth just to bury the name

It's a long, cold road to a rugged claim

And the warmth of the fire is the only aim

We plant the seed in the frozen dark

We carve the tree just to leave a mark

Iron in the soil

Ice in the vein

Just keep walking