Grey Owl Revised

Grey Owl Lyrics by Walter Zenko Verse 1 In Hastings town where the sea winds cried, A lonely boy let the daylight slide, With snakes in his pockets and dreams in his head, He walked with the wild where others feared to tread. England knew the boy as Archie, But the woods had already lit the flame. Chorus Hear the leaves, hear them call, To the boy who left it all, Not the city’s noise and stone, Only woods to call his home. Verse 2 He sailed from home on a cold spring tide, With Canada burning his heart inside, Past Halifax and the smoke and rails, Toward northern lakes and canoe trails. Temagamiopened wide as the dawn, And the restless boy was gone. Chorus Far from stone and chimney smoke, Past the rail and settler's yoke, He found a sky wide and free, And began to change slowly. Verse 3 Among the Ojibwe he learned the land, The trapline trail and the hunter's hand, Take what you need and leave life whole, That's the law of the northern soul. But storms inside would still remain, A wandering heart hard to restrain. Chorus Fire in hand, snow below, Restless heart with nowhere to go, Love would reach but he would roam, Never long in any home. Verse 4 War came calling across the sea, He marched with the Highland infantry, Through mud and wire and sniper's sight, Under Europe's burning night. Wounded twice and sent away, Still the forest would not fade. Chorus Smoke and thunder, trench and fire, Youth laid down in the wire, Yet the green woods in him stayed, Deep beneath the war he made. Verse 5 Then a young woman came fierce and bright, And held his darkness to the light, She saw the steel traps and dying cries, The price of fur and trappers' lies. Two small beavers changed his way, And the hunter turned that day. Chorus Small wet voices in the night, Turned the hunter from the fight, Mercy opened like a door, He could trap their kind no more. Verse 6 At lonely lakes in the northern cold, He wrote of the wilderness bought and sold, Of rivers broken and forests thinned, And the greed that follows men. He took the name Grey Owl then, Speaking for the wild again. Chorus Write it down and make it plain, Greed leaves silence, smoke, and pain, If the wild ones fade away, What is left of us to save? Verse 7 He died by the lake in April rain, Worn by the road and lingering pain, They said he was English, not what he claimed, And the papers mocked his name. But the wind through the pines still seems to say, He helped the wild find its way. Final Chorus Not by blood and not by role, But by what he gave in soul, Where the northern waters lie, Grey Owl does not die.