Godchild - Sonny Landreth

Drawn to the light like a moth to a flame

He saw the columns from the bayou, that dark and muddy drain

In the belly of the mansion, he swallowed a prayer

Then like the shadows on the Teche, he went a creeping up the stairs

Was that the murmur of voices or just a mournful wind?

It was strangely familiar, so he leaned to listen in

As if old conversations still lingered up there

With the smoke of spirit candles swirling in the air

Godchild, what makes you roam

Through the cracks in time and the walls of this home?

Godchild, don’t you know?

You are caught between worlds

Let go and return to the fold

Nothing of this earth had prepared him at all

For his reflection in a window with all that he saw

Suddenly upon him, it’s a scene from the past

Then like a sigh on a mirror, it melts into the glass

Godchild, what makes you roam

Through the cracks in time and the walls of this home?

Godchild, don’t you know?

You are caught between worlds

Let go and return to the fold

In the thicket, twiney fingers slapped at his retreat

When it struck him to ask, «Am I the dreamer or the dream?»

'Twas the burning question that made him turn back

And he was yearning for a sign when he froze in his tracks

Through the fog, the old mansion was paled in the dark

Like a face in the moonlight brooding over the marsh

That window was a glimmer against a deepening night

He saw it blinking like a signal with the winking of an eye

Godchild, what makes you roam

Through the cracks in time and the walls of this home?

Godchild, don’t you know?

You are caught between worlds

Let go and return to the fold