Track 2 of the album Kitchen Table Hymnal · 2022

Quiet Hands, Full Hearts

“She is up before the rooster, hands in the dough by five. I wrote it for every woman who ever fed a town.”

americana · bakery folk · melancholy americana · 3:20

Lyrics

She's up before the rooster crows
Hands in the dough by five
Never asked for a pat on the back
Just to see the whole house alive

Thirty years of Sunday suppers
Patching jeans and wiping tears
Never made a speech about it
Just kept it up through the years

Some folks shout it from the mountain top
She just lets the kitchen talk

Quiet hands, full hearts
That's how a mother's pride is shown
In the lunch she packed, the coat she hung
In the porch light always on
No medals on the mantel
No ribbons for the years
Just quiet hands, full hearts
And a love that never disappears

When I graduated, she stood in back
Wiped her eyes and turned away
Said she had a roast in the oven
But I knew what she couldn't say

Some folks shout it from the mountain top
She just lets the kitchen talk

Quiet hands, full hearts
That's how a mother's pride is shown
In the lunch she packed, the coat she hung
In the porch light always on
No medals on the mantel
No ribbons for the years
Just quiet hands, full hearts
And a love that never disappears

Now I'm grown with kids of my own
Packing lunches in the dawn
I finally understand the gift
Of a love that carries on

Quiet hands, full hearts
That's how a mother's pride is shown
In the lunch she packed, the coat she hung
In the porch light always on
No medals on the mantel
No ribbons for the years
Just quiet hands, full hearts
And a love that never disappears

A love that never disappears