Lyric

The Fields Made Us

Verse 1

When I was young

A teacher said

Rice came sailing from across the sea

A tidy little story

Chalk on the board

Straight as a government line

But old dirt whispers

Under broken pots

Things the books forgot to say

________________________________________

Chorus

We thought we were growing rice

Year after year

Hands in the soil

Sun in the sky

But the truth took its time

We never made the rice

Rice made us

________________________________________

Verse 2

Water in paddies

Slow as a prayer

Clouds sleeping in the mud

Stone on the ridges

Hands in the earth

Holding the seasons still

Plant it in spring

Pray for the rain

Watch the autumn bow

________________________________________

Chorus

We thought we were growing rice

Season by season

But the land had a plan

In the silence of water

In the patience of fields

Rice made us

________________________________________

Verse 3

When I lived in the city

My mother sent rice

Riding quiet on a train

Back when grain

Was guarded tight

Like silver in a government vault

________________________________________

Final Verse

Now the markets shout

And the fields grow quiet

And people say

"We make our own world now."

But somewhere in the mud

Under the roots

The old truth waits

________________________________________

Final Chorus

We thought we were growing rice

But maybe we were wrong

Maybe the soil

And the rain

And the patience of time

Were growing something else

They weren't growing rice

They were growing us