From the recording What I Heard, What I Saw
"What I Heard, What I Saw" was born from nearly a decade of wrestling with, and re-discovering, some of the stories which fed Kristen’s youth. Pulled from the pages of the gospel of Mark, these songs render flesh and bone, ache and longing to the outcasts, prophets and would-be followers that inhabit those ancient stories. More than that, the album is a confessional: a candid retelling of Kristen’s own journey stumbling through hard questions towards faith, finding meaning in the grit and dust of roads unknown. Collaborating with award-winning producer/guitarist Murray Pulver (The Bros. Landreth, Steve Bell, Red Moon Road), Kristen offers a folk meditation on these challenging narratives which have informed deep conviction and creativity among the religious and non-religious alike for generations.
Lyrics
These hands are for rope burns
And holding off the sun
Setting oars to the ocean
Like a fisherman’s son
Turned to look for my father
This is his father’s boat
And his hands are as old
As these oars in my hands
So why should I swim ashore?
And lose all I’ve become?
Forget my own name
and be anyone’s son?
Are you good for it all?
Are you good for the journey?
Are you good for it all?
And did you know about the loneliness?
‘Cause I’m leaving my nets
And my father behind
Heard them say you’re a holy man
But more dangerous than some
Well are you sure I’m the one
With my fisherman hands?
But you smell like the wood-shop floor
And the sweat of a priest
And you came down to the sea
With fresh dust on your feet
So what if I come ashore
And I take what I’ve become
And put it all on the table
Would you call me on the question?
Are you good for it all?
Are you good for the journey?
Are you good for it all?
And did you know about the loneliness?
‘Cause I’m leaving my nets
And my father behind
This is all that I’ve known
Every morning I waken to
This same ache in my bones
And then you come calling
“Come find your way home”
And I feel it awaken too
This same ache in my bones