I left in the dead of the new moon's veil
I clung to the side of the camouflaged trail
I was over the river before the sky was awake

I kept my ear pressed to the transistor radio
This station was all I had left from my little home
I don't want to leave but this sorrow was all I could take

    A static-y voice through the crackling speaker
    Has followed me all the way here
    The longer I go, we both will get weaker
    Till one of us just disappears
    
    I don't want to go but my duty is stronger than fear

I worked 20 years without nothing to show
So I left behind everything that I've known
In the hope that my family won't need to go hungry again

They stopped me the last time I tried this migration
I'm the overflow man in this melting pot nation
But the only thing here in this desert is a northerly wind

    I'm not really sure where the oxygen's going
    But it followed me all the way here
    The line on the map didn't stop it from blowing
    It's free, and that one thing is clear

    I don't want to go but my duty is stronger than fear

        And the sun, it doesn't care
        If it's here, or if it's over there
        It just passes through the stratosphere
        Until it goes away

I once watched a sparrow fly south for the winter
Her feathers were thin, and her body was thinner
But we had enough there to feed her until she was well

The seasons are cycles, they go back and forth
One day it's south and the next it is north
The just need a little relief till the snow starts to melt

    Today she's returning to look for her nest
    And she's followed me all the way here
    With nothing to hold but the meat on her breast
    And the promise of one more year

    The radio man is still playing his songs
    But the signal is not quite as clear
    I'd rather be back at the place I belong
    But my family is needing me here

    I don't want to go but my duty is stronger than fear
    I don't want to go but my duty is stronger than fear