Sprout

She came in the night on the ninth of October They looked me in my red eyes and said she won't last We all knew that she should've slept until mid-December When it comes to the lot I have learned, I can't count on the cast That night a vision came At the same time both vivid and vague Of a father looking on As he burns to the ground the house that he made When I woke, I had been slain in the spirit of reason Bap-tized in the rolling dark waters of doubt 'Cause I'm told it's your will to withhold, but it feels like treason A rain cloud refusing to pour in a season of drought That night a vision came At the same time both vivid and vague Of a father looking on As he burns to the ground the house that he made And I heard him say It was well on its way Just look how it swayed How it crumbled and caved As the crimson glow of the fire caught his eye I could tell he could hear, as well could I That along with the crackle and growl of the fire Came a call quite small from inside-- I'm in here alive But now, a child is born, she is bent but not broken A spark, a seed and a sprout A miracle or catastrophe This child who's orphaned her family