Mounds Above the Etowah

Lyrics

[Intro]
You, seated in the red clay chamber,
marble man and woman, cross-legged,
facing each other since 1250.

[Verse 1]
Warren King Moorehead dug you out in 1925,
from Mound C's layered earth,
Phillips Academy's careful hands brushing away centuries.
Your painted hair, red pigment in the grooves,
white accents on your serene faces.
What did they whisper to you,
the moundbuilders of Etowah,
as they carved you from Georgia marble?

[Chorus]
Oh, effigies, what do these pyramids mean?
Earthen steps to the sky, atop Mound A,
sixty-three feet over the river bend.
You watched the ceremonies in the plaza,
maize offerings and deer bones scattered.
Speak to me, cold stone,
of the chiefs who lived above,
their copper plates gleaming in the humid dawn.

[Verse 2]
The Etowah River curls below,
its waters carrying dugout canoes in 1300,
trade routes to distant kin.
You sat in conversation, eternal,
while summers hit ninety degrees,
wood smoke rising from temple fires.
Mississippian hands shaped you,
for burials or rites unknown,
your eyes fixed on each other.

[Bridge]
Gaps in the record, nameless priests,
women hauling baskets of dirt,
piling layers year by year.
What songs filled the air at midday,
under the intense sun?
You hold the secrets, unyielding.

[Verse 3]
Now, in Cartersville's quiet site,
visitors climb the paths you knew,
Georgia Department of Natural Resources plaques
recounting Adam King's histories.
But you, effigies, facing forever,
whisper of trembling earth and lost meanings.

[Outro]
Rest now, in your painted gaze,
over the river's endless bend.