Strangers in the Soil

Vines climbed fast, over barn and beam
Took the porch, then took the dream

Kudzu swallowed daddy’s shed
By July, it took the bed
Beetles chewin’ on the corn
Somethin’ strange was bein’ born

Worms that twist like southern lies
Brought from ships beneath our skies
What don’t belong still finds a place
And pushes out without a trace

"Strangers in the soil"
They don’t ask
They just stay
They wrap and coil

"Strangers in the soil"
And roots recoil

Feral hogs tear through the land
Wasps now hum where bees once ran
Even waters grow new weeds
That choke the fish and block the reeds

We tried sprayin’, burnin’ clear
But every year, they reappear
The ground don’t know what it became
But it sure as hell ain’t the same

"Strangers in the soil"
They don’t ask
They just stay
They wrap and coil

"Strangers in the soil"
And roots recoil

Mama says, “It’s not their fault”
But the harvest came to a halt
You can’t blame what don’t know shame
Still, this ain’t the dirt we came

"Strangers in the soil"
They don’t ask
They just stay
They take, not toil

"Strangers in the soil"
And roots recoil

You plant your hope, you till with grace
But something else now takes its place