This Time Next Year - Fernando Ortega

Turn up the lights so we can see

The red-head grandson on your knee

Better hold him while you can

He’ll be walking soon

This time next year you’ll want to take him

Down the old road behind your house

To show him the sun on the autumn fields

To smell the wind-blown alfalfa

To look out where the geese are rising

For their southern flight

Circling arrows in the sky

Above the ditches and the cottonwood

This time next year

There’ll be stories to tell

And he will listen to you, quiet in your arms

And there’ll be songs to sing him

While he goes to sleep

When we gather in your home

This time next year

The boy is laughing on your knee

Hold him up so we can see

Hold him high because we’re lifted

In his laughter

And in the gladness he has brought you

As you walk these heavy lives

This time next year

There’ll be stories to tell

And he will listen to you, quiet in your arms

And there’ll be songs to sing him

While he goes to sleep

When we gather in your home

This time next year

This time next year

There’ll be stories to tell

And he will listen to you, quiet in your arms

And there’ll be songs to sing him

While he goes to sleep

When we gather in your home

This time next year