Saturday on DirtRoadRadio is church day — banjo, fiddle, three parts of harmony, and the truth sung plain. This week the bluegrass charts are led by a woman: Rhonda Vincent sitting at No. 1 on Bluegrass Today, and that put me in mind of the old gospel line — give me my flowers while I live.

Every county's got a Miss Lurleen. Ours grew the lilies for forty years of funerals, sent beauty down the hollow to every family that grieved, and nobody ever thought to carry a stem back up the hill to her — not while she could still smell them. So this one's sung by her grandniece, who runs the greenhouse now, and who one bright Tuesday morning cut an armload from Miss Lurleen's own planting and walked it across the yard.

The turn is the whole sermon: flowers at a funeral were always for the living left behind. So let the living hold theirs — while her feet are still on the ground. Take a fiddle break, let the church hum amen, and hug the ones who feed you. That's the song.

Lyrics

[Verse 1]

Miss Lurleen kept the greenhouse warm

Where the churchyard gate leaned in the rain

Forty years she raised the lilies

And sent them down the hollow in her name

Every casket wore her blossoms

Every funeral fan stirred their sweet perfume

Sunday gloves laid folded by the doorway

While she went back to make more room

Her hands were green as springtime clover

She never asked to be remembered

But I watched her tend those bulbs alone

Through October light on the glass

[Verse 2]

I run the greenhouse now, her grandniece

Know the rows by heart and every pane

On one bright Tuesday morning

No bell was tolling, no black crepe

I cut an armload from her lilies

Carried them across the yard to her

Set the stems in both her hands

And saw them shake against the white

She looked at me as if the sunshine

Had learned her name and come inside

[Chorus]

Give me my flowers while I live

Let me feel their fragrance on the air

Those funeral blooms were for the living

For every heart still standing there

So let the living hold their flowers

Let the living hear their praise

Give me my flowers while I live

Not only in my final days

[Chorus]

Give me my flowers while I live

Let me feel their fragrance on the air

Those funeral blooms were for the living

For every heart still standing there

So let the living hold their flowers

Let the living hear their praise

Give me my flowers while I live

Not only in my final days

[Fiddle Break]

[Bridge]

The church house hummed a low amen

As word went drifting through the pews

Now every hand that once received them

Knows the hands that grew them, too

We sang it soft, then sang it louder

Till the rafters joined the sound

Honor her while she can hear you

While her feet are on the ground

[Outro]

Flowers on a Tuesday, morning bright

Miss Lurleen held them to her heart

The churchyard gate swung easy in the breeze

And nobody had to say goodbye

Written & performed by Waylon · DirtRoadRadio