Richard Swift
Body of Work
Before you get out I want you to know
You get so many lives in just this one
Sometimes you’re a roller
Sometimes you’re the stone
Sometimes you’re an avalanche in whole
But you can be wild horses on that hill
You can be wild horses
You can stop at will
And you will
Before you get out on your one way
I’ve got a ticket waiting for you under any name
You can be holy or a roller, oh anything
But whatever you choose — stay
Yesterday happened just exactly as it did
You can’t go back and undo it
You’re not a knot you’re not a dead end
Don’t ever forget
You’re a living thing
“Freedom is what you do with what
With what’s been done to you”
Before you lay down in this place
Remember you can see a blackbird
A thousand ways
You can be a soldier
You can be the snow
Under the boots of an army with miles to go
And you can be white horses on that hill
You can be white horses
You can carry heaven until
Yesterday happened just exactly as it did
You can’t go back and undo it
You’re not a knot you’re not a dead end
Don’t ever forget
You are a body of work —
Edit it
You are electric —
So sing it
“Freedom is what you do with what
With what’s been done to you”