w&m Anne Hills
© 1994 Raven Heart Music / ASCAP

From Anne’s album Angle of the Light

After I wrote “Silken Dreams” (which I recorded with Cindy Mangsen and Priscilla Herdman on Voices), I began putting this song together, wanting to take a different look at the value of working within a community. Wherever we work, we forge our dreams with others.

This was my life she said, this and my family
Eight hours a day of hard work in good company
It’s just a job to you but whatever happened
this place pulled me through

All of the gossip the coffee and cigarettes
Not much vacation time but I have no regrets
When I walked through these doors
I was more than a mother with children and chores

And she’s missing the sound of the looms
Missing the feel of the weave in her hand
Her children are grown and she’s here on her own
And she’s missing the sound of the looms

I get up early, a habit too hard to break
Watching the sunrise my heart and my fingers ache
Those years raced along just like the silk train
Here and then gone

The end of another long day
The hours turn slowly, more slowly
than the dust in the shafts of light
And restless with memories I toss in the night

For it’s not just the job that you do
It’s the family and friends you helped and who helped you
The lives you shared
Woven together with work, love and care