You tune your strings in damp December air
Rosined bow sings where the furnaces flare
Quercus roots drink deep where sidewalks crack
Your music feeds the dark and brings it back
Play the reel where lanterns swing low
Fiddle sings where cold winds blow
Chicago soil holds every note
You bloom beneath the smoky coat
Saxophone breathes through cracked brick walls
Your bow responds when the trumpet calls
Arctostaphylos leans toward fractured light
You turn the basement into flight
Bodhrán heart beats steady on the floor
Customers upstairs ask for more
But down here roots drink jazz and rain
Your violin grows through the strain
Play the reel where lanterns swing low
Fiddle sings where cold winds blow
Chicago soil holds every note
You bloom beneath the smoky coat
Salix weeps where the sidewalk ends
Your melody descends and ascends
No spotlight finds this hidden place
Just dust and hope and wooden grace
Morning comes on elevated tracks
You pack your case but never look back
The basement keeps your deepest phrase
A living root in concrete maze
Play the reel where lanterns swing low
Fiddle sings where cold winds blow
Chicago soil holds every note
You bloom beneath the smoky coat
Play the reel where lanterns swing low
Fiddle sings where cold winds blow
Chicago soil holds every note
You bloom beneath the smoky coat
Roots remember every tune you played
The basement keeps the music you made
