Flowing Easy and Free
List of Songs ~ Songs of Mike Kennedy Home Page
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Flowing Easy and Free
He went back to the river with his Old Town canoe,
That his father had bought when they both were young;
He put in his pack, with his rod and his tack, and his 12 gauge Remington gun;
He watches the pup run along by the shore;
Everything’s wondrous and new;
Thinks of old times, of seasons gone by; he remembers when he was young too.
River of darkness and river of light, river so wild and free;
Out from the hills, ‘cross the West Texas plains, flowing easy and free.
The sounds of the river flow thru his mind, like the stories his grandfather told,
And the clouds drift by on November’s winds, life and the river move slow;
Darkness surrounds him with the coming of night;
The pup is asleep by the warm fireside,
As the embers sparkle and flicker and fly,
As they dance their dance cross the sky.
River of hardship and river of strife, river so wild and free;
Out from the hills ‘cross the West Texas plains, flowing easy and free.
He pulls in the reeds at dawn’s early light; the canvasbacks fly on their way;
He picks up his gun, then puts it back down; there’ll be no killing today;
As the panorama before him unfolds,
A tapestry woven in silver and gold;
A vision of life that few will see,
And he feels wild and free.
River of history and river of life, river so wild and free;
Out from the hills, ‘cross the West Texas plains, flowing down to the sea.
He climbs the embankment and gets into the road, hitches to town, and gives a call home:
“I’ll be back in a while, but I don’t know quite when; I’ll be on the river ‘till then;”
For they’re building the dams at Monk and Shalan,
And everything south of the Possum King Dam
Will no longer be wild, and no longer be free,
As it slowly flows to the sea.
River of darkness, and river of light, hardship and toil, history and life;
Meandering memories abide every bend;
He’s saying good-bye to the river;
He’s saying good-by to a friend.
River of darkness and river of light, river so wild and free;
Out from the hills, ‘cross the West Texas plains, flowing down to the sea.