in the Wallowa Mountains of eastern Oregon.
There were many of these little pines living among the rocks
near my shack. This one just down the ridge
on the trail to Granite Butte.
WHITEBARK
© 1990 Whitebark Music/BMI
words/music: TR Ritchie
This is the life i have been given. These are the seasons of my time,
And i am seeking out the light according to design.
I've weathered storms i cannot count to make this world my home
In a place where small and twisted things can split the hardest stone.
In one like me you might not see how i have manages to exist,
A fragile, crooked rack of limbs in terrain as rough as this;
But to those who take their chances here experience has shown
That sometimes small and twisted things can split the hardest stone.
So shed no tears of pity here; spin no tales of tragic grace.
Just let it be enough that life is blooming in this rocky place.
It is the proof that seeds will grow wherever they are sown
And that sometimes small and twisted things can split the hardest stone.