Sam Baardman

Lyrics

Athabasca

I’m floating so high on a mountain
On a river of diamond and stone
Listening to scientists, all bearing witness
To a future that they’ve long foretold

Dust blows across the cold surface
And darkens the face of snow
Collecting the sun, making meltwater run
Through cracks to the foothill plateaus

CHORUS
Climbing up the Athabaska
We’ll end in sun and dust and tears
Mine is but a human lifetime
Yours a quarter million years

So we say our farewells, where the white giants dwell
Now there’s nothing but rocky moraines
Where water once flowed to the great plains below
Just wildfires and the cracked earth remains

CHORUS

BRIDGE
Our children will look back and wonder
Because we know what needs to be done
Try to understand what we were thinking
Every one, every one, every one …

CHORUS
We’re climbing up the Athabaska
This ends in sun and dust and tears
Ours is but a human lifetime
Yours a quarter million years