Gill Tract Harvest

Lyrics

[Intro]The gate clicks shut behind me.And the sound of the city changes.Just for a block. Just for this acre.[Verse 1]My hands remember the cool of the soil,even through these worn-out gloves.The heft of the shovel from the shared shed,its handle smooth from a hundred other hands.We are tending the same row.You with your careful labels for the UC plots,me with my crooked line of snap peas.The quiet language of work,the nod, the shared watering can.Your science and my hope,growing side-by-side.[Chorus]This is the Gill Tract harvest.More than zucchini, more than kale.It's the taste of a fight we won in 2012.It's the weight of the dirt, a living thing.It's the sound of your name called across the rows.This is the harvest.Our hands in the last good soil.[Verse 2]I remember the stories.The occupation. The signs held high against the chain link.They wanted a shopping center here,on this land that remembers being a creek.Now, a child pulls a carrot from the ground,her face a perfect picture of astonishment.The compost pile breathes its slow, warm breath,turning yesterday's waste into tomorrow's feast.This is a different kind of wealth.Measured in sun-warmed tomatoes,shared on a picnic table.[Chorus]This is the Gill Tract harvest.More than zucchini, more than kale.It's the taste of a fight we won in 2012.It's the weight of the dirt, a living thing.It's the sound of your name called across the rows.This is the harvest.Our hands in the last good soil.[Bridge]And sometimes, at the edge of the day,when the sun hits the greenhouse just so,I think of all the hands that worked this ground before us.Before the university, before the name Albany.Just the rhythm of planting and waiting.Planting and waiting.And the quiet faith of the seed.[Outro]I carry the smell of it home on my skin.Tomato leaf. Damp earth.A bag heavy with greens for the table.The gate clicks shut behind me.But the city sounds different now.It sounds like a promise.