Legacy

(album: The Compass Project - West Album - 2023)

Broken hands and broken dirt
Can't complain, my bones hurt
Land is broke and seed is sown
It's the hardest work I've ever known
Build this house and plant a tree
This will be my legacy

School was missed, time after time
For chores and work, but I didn't mind
Crops are in, and cows are fed
It's late, I'm beat, it's time for bed
I dream of things that you can't see
This will be my legacy

I grew up quick and found a wife
My blistered hands, they've built a life
A cowboy's life though can be alone
But she's the best I've ever known
Barely holding on, but she's holding me
We're gonna build a legacy

Two hands are better than one, they say
Kids are born, but we're going grey
The ranch has grown, more cattle now
Bills are paid with calf and cow
I see the light, I'm feeling free
This feels like a legacy

Hop on horses, cut some trails
They say that daddy tells the tallest tales
'Bout cowboy life and common sense
Cut some logs and fix a fence
I hold my kids on my knee
Yeah, this feels like a legacy

They're all grown up now
Weddings planned
But a dark cloud grows upon a land
No kindness shown, no kindness given
There's new ideas and new opinions
It's too far gone for a correction
Things are trending in the wrong direction

As time goes by, now there's a need
But it just hit a wall of greed
All your work should be for me
What about my sweat equity?
A hundred years of blood and sweat
Now filled with fear and past regret
Hands are out to take a token
Now family's split, no words are spoken

Once was my only obsession
Has now been tied up in succession
All my effort, years of toil
Lawyers take my cash and soil
For years it never felt like labor
The ranch, till now, was in God's favor
To build this land for generations
Now heartbreak plagues all my creation

Tied up now with legal battles
With who did what and worked the cattle
The joy once felt in unity
Has all been lost to lunacy
How dare you claim this all is yours
And start all of these crazy wars
I'm getting old, I'll soon decease
Now I just wish to die in peace

I've given up, nothing matters
Can't live through this family disaster
I'm eighty-three, my body's worn
Sell it all, my heart is torn
Make your millions off my back
I think I feel a heart attack
Close my eyes, I'm finally free
There goes my legacy