Walking Up the Mountain
In the Jemez Ponderosa where the pinon meets the sky
And the hardest granite mountain meets the rain clouds flying high.
As you and I look out and see the world spread out below,
With different eyes and hearts and all the different things we know.
There are cars down on the highway ten miles to the east,
See the gilt of distant sunlight in the rat-tat-dancing heat,
But to you, you see their faces in the failing lives they lead
Then you wink at me and reckon there's a way I might succeed
CHORUS:
Walking up the mountain and I've got you by my side
I've got thunder in the valley and this bone-dry mountain high
Walking up the mountain, climbing side by side
Walking up the mountain with you
With you I'm never certain just exactly where I stand
You scare me when you do the things I just can't understand
If I slow down you tell me that I'm moving up too fast
If I speed up you tell me slow down kid, you'll never last.
When I ask you how to live my life you laugh and ask me why,
You tell me I'd be better off to ask you how to die.
Come with me we'll climb up to the sandstone to the sky
O Yogi, son of Guru, come see with your own eyes.
CHORUS:
Walking up the mountain and I've got you by my side
I've got thunder in the valley and this bone-dry mountain high
Walking up the mountain, climbing side by side
Walking up the mountain with you
As the rain fell on the mountain I saw every human life
As the value of a rain drop falling from the sky
It don't matter to the heavens just who lives and just who dies,
It don't matter to the rain cloud when the rain falls from the sky,
As the clouds blew off I saw the stars shining in the night,
In the trillion points of light I saw that each one had a life
Then if nothing seems to matter, tell me what's the life to do
Said, "The only thing that matters is the memory of you."
CHORUS:
Walking up the mountain and I've got you by my side
I've got thunder in the valley and this bone-dry mountain high
Walking up the mountain, climbing side by side
Walking up the mountain with you
And I felt like I was falling through the channels dark and light
Saw the in and out was fast and hard as death and life.
Saw the baggage that I carried and the chambers of my mind,
Insignificant as rain, a total waste of time.
When I saw you standing smiling I cried, "What right have you got?"
You said, "Listen son of Guru, I'm the best thing that you've got."
I'm the kindness in the comfort and the sorrow in the pain,
I've got nothing left to lose and nothing left to gain."
CHORUS:
Walking up the mountain and I've got you by my side
I've got thunder in the valley and this bone-dry mountain high
Walking up the mountain, climbing side by side
Walking up the mountain with you
"I don't know where we're going, won't you help me find a way"
You say, "It doesn't matter, 'cause we don't know anyway."
We'll walk back down the mountain there beneath the setting sun
And see the time of evolution has only just begun.
We've got thunder on the mountain and sunlight on the plains
We're always moving forward never pass this way again.
With a smile and a wink you turn and walk away
O Yogi Son of Guru, there's still a chance you say.