OPEN PAGE by Anni McCann

Track 7

Grandma Gertie

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Have you ever heard of the Lakota Holy ways?

Honoring the Earth for all the wisdom that she gave.

Gertie was a keeper of this old and sacred flame.

Gertie, my grandmother, my mother all the same.

 

Opening her home to any seeker on the way.

Offering her heart to those in need, those gone astray.

Talking with her Father, with tobacco she would pray.

Gertie, my grandmother...

 

REFRAIN

She would(could) open me(you) wide with that twinkle in her eyes.

Gertie was a healer, Gertie, like a child

She would laugh and she would dance 

with that knowing in her glance,

'Cuz Gertie was a seer, now Gertie is a guide.

 

Her life was not an easy one, she suffered with her pain.

Holding great compassion for her people and their ways,

She saw the light in everyone, she burned the bundled sage.

Gertie my grandmother…

 

Gertie walked the Red road crossing on to the unknown.

Now it´s in our hands to carry on what she has shown.

To all of my relations and to everything unseen.

Gertie is a part of all and all that love can bring.

 

REFRAIN

 

So here I am with tears of love for time spent by her side.

Singing songs to make her smile, to let her rest a while.

It's true in South Dakota there's a home I can't deny.

Honoring great spirit, I hear the eagle cry!