Hum Me Home

Mm... mm... mm...
Mm... mm... hum me
Mm... hum me home
Mm... thula, thula
Mm... mm...

My grandmother hummed over the washing
Over the cold and over the old
She never learned the hymnal
She never learned to read
She hummed the rent and she hummed the rain
She hummed it low and she hummed it slow
And the whole house knew what to do
My father's boots stopped at the door
She hummed him a way to the chair
She hummed the baby into prayer
She hummed the funeral and the feast
She hummed the same low song for both
She hummed the night down to the floor

Ukuthula, ukuthula
Thula, thula, thula
Ukuthula, ukuthula
Thula, thula, thula

Hum me home, hum me home
When I have no words to give
Hum me home, hum me home
Lay a low note where I live

Mm... mm... hum me home
Mm... mm... hum me home

The ward was white and the hall was long
And I had no sentence left
Somebody started humming low
Nobody led it, nobody knew
Somebody else came in on the third
Nobody asked what key it was
We hummed him home with our own bad notes
And the notes were enough all the same
He did not wake, but his hand went soft
The breath went slow and wide
The song had a door in it
And he walked on through to the other side
Nobody asked for a name
Nobody asked for a key
We just kept humming till the room went still

Hum me home, hum me home
When I have no words to give
Hum me home, hum me home
Lay a low note where I live

Mm... mm... hum me home
Mm... mm... hum me home
Mm... hum me home

Bum... (bum)
Tk-tk... (bum)
Say it plain
There is a whole house in a low note
The white sheet, the rail, the hand
There is a whole house in a low note

Ukuthula, ukuthula
Hum it for the ones who cannot
Hum it for the ones who could
Hum it for the ones who will
Hum it for the ones who will

Hum me home, hum me home
When I have no words to give
Hum me home, hum me home
Lay a low note where I live

Mm... mm... hum me home
Mm... mm... hum me home
Mm... hum me home

Hum you home, hum you home
Now it is me who holds the low
Hum you home, hum you home
Where the next one has to go

Mm... mm... hum you home
Mm... mm... hum you home