Oh appalachian mine, cave gently on me
The coal lines on your face,
in your hands and granite teeth.
You father worked all night,
till the day you turned fourteen,
saltpeter on his breath,
they don’t know you any more.

Potomac, run easy on me.
Your mother never cried,
hailed Mary in the night,
and bound up her hair with a rosary.
Potomac, run gently on me.

Adirondack lover, and basin daughter,
Your family never prayed,
but on your gravestone laid,
song of praise and fiddle rosin too.

Adirondack, we sit upon park tree benches,

Oh wooden bones,
harmonic runes and runs and snow,
you didn’t know.
That I would sink beneath your bones.
Oh river blush,
I would have hidden in your brush,
in your hand and in your touch.

Too hope too much,
I terrify with thoughts of love,
Potomac, wash the soot off of me.