Amy Carol Webb: Music
Ancient Voices
(Amy Carol Webb)
May, 2008
© 2000, Frank and Ann Thomas (Ocean Pond Publishing, BMI)
My endless gratitude belongs to Ann for this song – and to Ron Litschauer for playing it for me the day we started this recording. Working on it, I felt so close to Ann, so close to the very soul of the matter. “Can you almost hear them, too?” she asks. Thank you, Ann, we can. ACW: Guitar and vocals
I lived in Florida before rockets and Disney
Before the cowbirds were blown here on a storm
And I remember as a child how the nights were clear and wild
And stars shown down through the air so soft and warm
The land of flowers was my home then, it is now
I stand alone, old and bent now, but not cowed
And ancient voices speak to me, Older than our history
Like wavelettes lapping at a duggout’s prow
They whisper names lightly out across the land
I cannot say these names or even understand
The names belong to races gone, Still their voices linger on
Recalling warriors of old and bygone bands
Can you almost hear them too
Are they calling out to you
The voices say these names today
I cannot quite make out the names I long to know
They elude my ears as swiftly past they flow
Vitachuko I have heard and a name like calling birds
Or was it only wind a’moaning as it goes
Can you almost hear them too
Are they calling out to you
The voices say their names today
It is the surety of rightness that has cost them
What made us think we had good reason to accost them
Calusa and the Tamequah once lived here but now they’re gone
In the arrogance of whiteness we have lost them
Can you almost hear them too
Are they calling out to you
The voices say their names today
But we have not heart to hear
Those who once lived so near
We have killed, their voices stilled
Can you almost hear them too