Going On
© 1999 Lois Lyman
Loie says "Going On is the true story of a family surviving the first year after their father died suddenly in early summer. He was a wonderful, warm man, full of humor. He had a little retirement berry farm and the family was running it together and loving it. Just before Easter his daughter told me that she had been dreading going home, because spring was her father's favorite time of year. But when she walked into the kitchen, it was just covered with flats of little pants and her mother and brothers were all busy poring over them. "I guess it just goes on," she said.
Gordon- nylon 6-string guitar
Lois and Carol - vocals
In summer there was nothing left to do
But carry on, the way we knew he wanted us to do
Run the stand and work the farm, sleep exhausted, up at dawn
No time to think, and so it just went on.
It still goes on; it will go on
In the sharing of a smile, in the caring for a child
Asleep in your arms and dreaming – it still goes on.
In autumn, seemed that everything was gone
We turned and all we saw were shades of black and grey and brown
Empty fields on every hand, silent house and shuttered stand;
Wasn't easy then to think of going on.
But winter was time for plans and dreaming
Catalogs and endless schemes, that kept us all believing
We would keep the dream alive and make it grow, not just survive
Knowing that drove out the cold and kept us warm.
And the joy of springtime sun is warm and steady
In the greenhouse and the fields next summer's crop is coming ready
Walking through the door at hoe I can feel that it's begun
And in everyone of us it still goes on.