Claudia Gibson

Lyrics

Sixty miles from nowhere
City lights left behind
Just me and the highway
And a Louisiana sky

Heard the past come a-callin’
Like a voice from up high
Saying, “We all once lived here,
Under Louisiana skies”

Crossed a bridge over the bayou
Sugar cane grows tall and wide
Plantation cabins down an old gravel road
There’s ghosts in the live oaks
Telling tales from old souls

Blue beads in their pockets
To keep off the evil eye
Couldn’t lift them to freedom
Under Louisiana skies

On their papers, first names only
Moses, Martha and a child
Life stories left here
In cypress and stone
Once flesh and blood
Now dust and bone

Clouds darkened and swirled down
Lightning crackled and cried
Tears of history were streaming
From the Louisiana sky

Cabins empty and dusty
Voices stilled by the time
Said my prayer to the nameless
And the Louisiana sky
Said “You won’t be forgotten”
Under Louisiana skies