Water From Another Time - John McCutcheon

New mown hay on a July morn

Grandkids running through the knee-high corn

Sunburned nose and a scabbed-up knee

From the rope at the white oak tree

Just another summer’s day on Grandpa’s farm

With Grandma’s bucket hanging off my arm

You know, the old pump’s rusty but it works fine

Primed with water from another time

It don’t take much, but you gotta have some

The old ways help the new ways come

Just leave a little extra for the next in line

They’re gonna need a little water from another time

Tattered quilt on the goose down bed

«Every stitch tells a story», my Grandma said

Her mama’s nightgown, her Grandpa’s pants

And the dress she wore to her high school dance

Now wrapped at night in those patchwork scenes

I waltz with Grandma in my dreams

My arms, my heart, my life entwined

With water from another time

It don’t take much, but you gotta have some

The old ways help the new ways come

Just leave a little extra for the next in line

They’re gonna need a little water from another time

Newborn cry in the morning air

The past and the future are wedded there

In this wellspring of my sons and daughters

The bone and blood of living water

And, though Grandpa’s hands have gone to dust

Like Grandma’s pump;

reduced to rust

Their stories quench my soul and mind

Like water from another time

It don’t take much, but you gotta have some

The old ways help the new ways come

Just leave a little extra for the next in line

They’re gonna need a little water from another time