Fernando Ortega

The Breaking Of Dawn

Fernando Ortega


There's a slow train 
Pulling through the desert 
The colored cars pass quietly from sight 
Between the highway and the long horizon 
Precious dreams wind away with the light. 

My brother's and my sisters' faces linger 
The hours of our childhood, grave and gold 
Driving through these solitary places 
Memories of their gentile kinship 
Touch my soul 

The hawk wheels away as we pass here 
The clouds billow up and fly on 
Down the road some hard turns 
Are going to shake us 
Ride with us 
Through the breaking of the dawn 

Worry for my loving mother 
The dimming years, 
The trials she has known 
Her heart so kind and so weary 
Keep her safe one more night 
'til I get home 

How I long to be right there beside her 
And bring everything back to before 
We'll arrive with the first light of morning 
Keep her safe, let me hold her once more 

The sage and Joshua tree remind me 
Of the miles to go, 
The journey that we're on 
In the still, sweet air of the desert 
We will ride 
Through the breaking of the dawn