When our days ceased to shine
No, you could not take a breath
When those black blizzards came
Strippin' land in dire need of rain
There was dirt on the floor
As mama swept all day long
Leavin' trails of tears and
There was dirt in our beds
And there was dirt in our clothes
And there was dirt in the little that we ate
But the fields and the harvest
Sometimes the things that kill us
That strip the land of everything but pride
Lotta town folk up and left
They boarded up the schools and
And that, to me, was wrong
Come next year, it would be better
For the last one standin' tall
That showed the most resolve
They announced the New Deal
With the Conservation Act
There was little hope by then
So we just stood there in that line
And we thanked the man for
that little bit of cheese
That's all we knew to get by
How I recall a helpless feelin'
The first time that I saw
Lookin' back on everything we had
And on everything we lost
Was stayin' worth the cost?
