[you'll not feel the drowning]

warms the heart, soothes the soul. shimmers. these are the sounds that have stayed in my head these past months.

(play below)

http://www.playlist.com/playlist/12584199691/standalone

Crane Wife, Pt. 3

And under the bowsunbelle

I'll hold in the snowy shroud

She had no heart so hardened

All under the bowsunbelle

Each feather it fell from skin

'Till thread bare and she grew thin

How were my eyes so blinded?

Each feather it fell from skin

And I will hang my head, hang my head low

And I will hang my head, hang my head low

Her grey sky with bitter skin

A rain cloud rain on me

All out behind horizon, oh

A grey sky of bitter skin

And I will hang my head, hang my head low

And I will hang my head, hang my head low

Yankee Bayonet



Heart-carved tree trunk, Yankee bayonet

A sweetheart left behind

Far from the hills of the sea-swelled Carolinas

That's where my true love lies



Look for me when the sun-bright swallow

Sings upon the birch bough high

But you are in the ground with the voles and the weevils

All a'chew upon your bones so dry



But when the sun breaks

To no more bulletin battle-cry

Then will you make a grave

For I will be home then

I will be home then

I will be home then

I will be home then

Then



When I was a girl how the hills of Oconee

Made a seam to hem me in

There at the fair when our eyes caught, careless

Got my heart right pierced by a pin



But oh, did you see all the dead of Manassas

All the bellies and the bones and the bile

Though I lingered here with the blankets barren

And my own belly big with child



But when the sun breaks

To no more bulletin battle-cry

Then will you make a grave

For I will be home then

I will be home then

I will be home then

I will be home then



Stems and bones and stone walls too

Could keep me from you

Scaly skin is all too few

To keep me from you



But oh my love, though our bodies may be parted

Though our skin may not touch skin

Look for me with the sun-bright sparrow

I will come on the breath of the wind

Here I Dreamt I was An Architect

And here I dreamt I was a soldier

And I marched the streets of birkenau

And I recall in spring

The perfume that the air would bring

To the indolent town

Where the barkers call the moon down

The carnival was ringing loudly now

And just to lay with you

There's nothing that I wouldn't do

Save lay my rifle down

And try one, and try two

Guess it always comes down to

Alright, it's okay, guess it's better to turn this way

And I am nothing of a builder

But here I dreamt I was an architect

And I built this balustrade

To keep you home, to keep you safe

From the outside world

But the angles and the corners

Even though my work is unparalleled

They never seemed to meet

This structure fell about our feet

And we were free to go

And try one, and try two

Guess it always comes down to

Alright, okay, guess it's better to turn this way

And here in spain I am a spaniard

I will be buried with my marionettes

Countess and courtesan

Have fallen 'neath my tender hand

When their husbands were not around

But you, my soiled teenage girlfriend

Or are you furrowed like a lioness

And we are vagabonds

We travel without seatbelts on

We live this close to death

And try one, and try two

Guess it always comes down to

Alright, it's okay, guess it's better to turn this

But I won, so you lose

Guess it always comes down to

Alright, it's okay, guess it's better to turn this way

The Island: Come & See / The Landlord's Daughter / You'll Not Feel The Drowning

[Come & See]

There's an island hidden in the sound

Lapping currents lay your boat to ground

Affix your barb and bayonet

The curlews carve their Arabesques

And sorrow fills the silence all around

Come and see



There's a harbor lost within the reeds

A jetty caught in over-hanging trees

Among the bones of cormorants

No boot mark here nor finger prints

The rivers roll down to a soundless sea

Come and see

Come and see



The tides will come and go

With this bare waking eye

Who rose like the wind

Though we know for sure

Amidst this fading light

We'll not go home again

Come and see

Come and see



In the lowlands, nestled in the heat

A briar cradle rocks it's babe to sleep

Its contents watched by Sycorax

And patagon in paralax

A foretold rumbling sounds below the deep

Come and see

Come and see



The tides will come and go

Witnessed by no waking eye

Who rose like the wind

Though we know for sure

Amidst this fading light

We'll not go home again

Come and see

Come and see



[The Landlord's Daughter]

As I was rambled

Down by the water

I spied in sable

The landlord's daughter

Produced my pistol, then my saber

To make no whistle or thou will be murdered



She cursed, she shivered

She cried for mercy,

"My gold and silver if thou will release me!"



I'll take no gold miss, I'll take no silver

I'll take those sweet lips, and I'll deliver



[You'll Not Feel The Drowning]

I will dress your eyelids

With dimes upon your eyes

Laying close to water

Green your grave will rise

Go to sleep little ugly

Go to sleep you little fool

Forty-winking in the belfry

You'll not feel the drowning

You'll not feel the drowning



Forget you once had sweethearts

They've forgotten you

Think you not on parents

They've forgotten too

Go to sleep now little ugly

Go to sleep now you little fool

Forty-winking in the belfry

You'll not feel the drowning

You'll not feel the drowning



Go to sleep little ugly

Go to sleep little fool

Forty-winking in the belfry

You'll not feel the drowning

You'll not feel the drowning



Hear you now the captain

Heed his sorrowed cry

"Weight upon your eyelids

As dimes laid on your eyes"

-the decemberists