Rose Of Sharon Lyrics - Singles - Robert Hunter

What you gonna call that pretty baby? 

You must call it one thing or another 

This one parted water, that one walked upon 

Perhaps I'll call this child a Rose of Sharon 

What's to be the ground that child walks upon? 

Will it be solid rock or shifting sand? 

Think I'll set him down on concrete highways 

We'll bring him up to walk the land 

Think I'll call him just another stranger 

Believe I'll call him knocking at your door 

Asking you for shelter from the lightning 

Space to rest upon your kitchen floor 

Will he be a man of constant sorrow? 

Born to beg a coat against the storm? 

Will he want a house with marble pillars? 

And fire of a night to keep him warm? 

And if a stranger comes for troubled shelter 

With hounds and torchlight on his midnight trail 

Will he find a moment free of madness there? 

And ears that still can hear to tell his tale? 

Then you could call that child the Rock of Ages 

You could call him raft upon the flood 

He has been the face of many races 

He has been the palace in the blood 

If that child should end up in a prison 

As sometimes chance will deal to honest men 

One room is like another to a stranger 

Any man of worth will be his friend 

Now what you gonna call that pretty baby? 

You must call it one thing or another 

Think I'll call him flame out on the water 

Think I'll call him shore between the sea 

Drop him on the rocks and he will shatter 

Cut him with a blade and he will bleed 

Plant him in the ground, he will rise up again 

Sometimes as a flower, sometimes a reed 

What you gonna call that pretty baby? 

You must call him one thing or another 

This one parted water, that one walked upon 

Perhaps I'll call this child a Rose of Sharon