Variation 1

If it wasn't for the sands, I'd have left long ago If it wasn't for the clouds and the rain If it wasn't for the thousands of cracked leaves in the fall Their broken skin reminds me of my own But I tire of the wind, and its elusive grasp That whispers through the mountains I have listened But every stone is worn In this river bed No skin beneath the waves I've nothing left to save Apple orchard that was my home Deer-eaten fruit in the grass And that garden grown on love and loam You and I could grow in kind Beyond this garden I have known You and I could grow in kind Beyond this garden I have known If it wasn't for the sun, I'd have fled from this time But I've held on to something unknown And if it wasn't for the trees, I'd have left long ago But every stone is worn In this river bed No skin beneath the waves I've nothing left to save