Back in the long stretch of loneliness
I have come to call a living
I'm getting something for all this love's labor
Even when I am forgetting

Oh we oh oh, little perennials
Where'd you come from?

Daughter of my father's second cousin
Loyalties, I got 'em by the dozen
We share a past, we share a blood relation
And that's as good as an invitation

Oh we oh oh, little perennials
Where'd you come from?

I'm in the North Carolina mountains
Just to the west of where I met my calling
If you look south to the foothills of these mountains rising
That's the place where it feels good falling
That's the place that I know

I look for words to fill the empty spaces
All the life revealed in these back stages
I reach for names like little puzzle pieces
Oh perennial, come to me

Oh we oh oh, little perennials
Where'd you come from?