Story Behind The Song

This Song came to me in the middle of the night in the form of a life like dream. I got up, wrote the lyrics and played the melody line as well as the guitar background. Then I went back to bed. I Placed this song in a private recording hereto never released. As you can see it was written in 1996. In January of 2013 I was watching a PBS feature called Texas Country Reporter. In it was a description of a blind Quilter in Waco, TX. It struck me that the song I had written and had wondered about had to be about her. I made contact with her, sent her a CD of the music and the lyrics that her friend read to her. She called me in tears. She had been in a car accident in 2000 and it caused the loss of her sight. She said it completely describes her Life since being blind. Her quilts since then have been bought from all over the country including Country Music Artists. I had finally knew why and who the song had been written for.

Song Description

A grandmother has a largefamily she has raised with love and keeps the family memories on her wall and from time to time she takes a memory down from the wall and places it on her bed quilt. She cries a tear of joy which magicly drops on the sewing blending the whole thing into the fabric.

Lyrics

The Tears Of Our Years
Copyright © 1996 David E. Hansen

The story is here, all around the walls
You can feel the warmth and the love
Each treasure is a mystery as it quietly calls
And you take it down from above

It's in this room where she sleeps and prays
Where she softly begins every day
Among her collection slips the suns first rays
And you hear her as she quietly sings

I give you my tears I give you my love
I give you all of my years
I give you comfort and freedom and light
My darlings bring me your fears

I'll wrap my arms around you and show you what's right
On these walls keep our memories alive
For every moment that comes into sight
Is sealed with the tears of our years

She sat me down one morning in May
Pulled the quilt from the bed to my lap
She gave me a needle and said don't you worry
You'll find it's like reading a map

I looked close at that quilt and the gentle weave
I discovered memories just like on her walls
She took one down and began to stitch
Then a tear from her eye started to fall

Like a soft fragile crystal it sparkled and landed
On her sewing it spread all around
Then into the fabric the memory blended
Quite soon ... not a stitch could be found

But there on the quilt was the moment so pure
Full of Love and magical things
She touched my soul I've found the cure
I will listen as she sews and sings

I give you my tears I give you my love
I give you all of my years
I give you comfort and freedom and light
My darlings bring me your fears

I'll wrap my arms around you and show you what's right
On these walls keep our memories alive
For every moment that comes into sight
Is sealed with the tears of our years