Song Of The Jack Pine Lyrics & Chords By Jayber Crow

Chucked across the forest floor,
the remnants of what came before,
the refuse of a recent history.
Limbs and leaves are piling up,
the clutter of the underbrush
is choking out this weak and feeble tree.
A crown, my God, 'cause I can barely breathe

Flowerless and never green,
the shade that falls on all beneath,
the darkness is my thick and heavy fate.
So much else has seeded here,
their taller trunks are much too near,
the soil has given all there is to take.
A crown, my God, 'cause I could die in wait.

So I pray for lightning striking quick,
the beauty of a forest lit
to sacrifice the shadows of the past.
If those fast and feral flames
can crack the sealing cones I've made
and scatter seeds atop the smold'ring ash.
A crown, my God, I want another chance.
Torch the trunks—burning boughs
the only heat, and all black now—
to purge the ground and make it clean and cold;
The only form of purity
is the ash of all they used to be,
a new life means the death of something old.
A new life means the death of something old.

I am asking for to burn
I am asking for to burn
Roots and petals to dust will settle,
where all things come in turn.