some hearts are built on a floodplain
keeping one eye on the sky for rain
you work for the ground that gets washed away
when you live closer

closer to the life and the ebb and flow
closer to the edge of I don’t know
closer to that’s the way it goes
some hearts are built on a floodplain

and it’s easy to sigh on a high bluff
look down and ask when you’ve had enough
will you have the sense to come on up
or will you stay closer

closer to the danger and the rolling deep
closer to the run and the losing streak
and what brings us to our knees
some hearts live here

oh the river it rushes to madness
and the water it spreads like sadness
and there’s no high ground
and there’s no high ground
closer to the danger and the rolling deep
closer to the run and the losing streak
and what brings us to our knees

closer to the life and the ebb and flow
closer to the edge of I don’t know
closer to Lord please send a boat
some hearts are built here


Words and music by Sara Groves

Behind the Song:
First a metaphor for my journey with anxiety and depression, and then in sympathy for people caught in cycles of generational poverty and violence “Without the world noticing, the locusts of common, criminal violence are right now ravaging the lives and dreams of billions of our poorest neighbors.” ― Gary A. Haugen, The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence