She stood at the window
Casting her possessions down
Watching one side of life falling
The other hit the ground
And I said, don't wear your hair like that,
All tied up, tied up with black ribbon
She was trembling from exhaustion,
As she cast the final stone,
The stone that tied her to her body,
The one that kept her all alone
And I said, don't wear your hair like that,
All tied up, tied up with black ribbon
Chorus:
She had no idea,
What I meant to mean,
Her lips were bleeding
Her heart was green
I was pleading with the Sun Queen.
She pointed out across the fields,
At the horseman who looked then turned to run,
He'd gone flying for some freedom,
He'd gone flying too close to the sun,
And I said, don't wear your hair like that,
All tied up, tied up with black ribbon
Down her cheeks the tears were pouring,
That the heat of midday dried onto her face,
I could see her skin was melting,
Leaving nothing in its place
And I said don't wear your hair like that,
All tied up, tied up with black ribbon
Repeat chorus
Then she finally turned to face me,
Her eyes were closed her lips were sealed,
Her final breath let go a whisper,
Saying, "Nothing is revealed".
And I said don't wear you hair like that,
All tied up (x 6 ish)
With black ribbon
Golden-stemmed, lily-white,
Flowers of paradise,
Rest on the window pane,
With the dead condensation
Of lost conversation
As our breathe is mixed with the rain
Of the steam from the coffee cup,
Growing cold, pick it up,
Take all the warmth that you can,
Before it's carried away
On a closing time tray
With the paper i don't understand
Thanks for your time
And the memories that will last for a while
It read, "Jenny wrapt up
In a red-ribboned coat,
To search for a way through the woods,
She found what she'd need,
From the axe in the trees,
The first thing to be understood.
She carried a basket
Of Edenous flowers
At the centre a golden-white rose
Such a glorious array,
For a heart on display,
In the place where nothing else grows
It's you that i love,
You i live for, you i'd never give up
This is life, this is real, this is hopelessly floating,
While we sing, as we cling with our crumbling backs to the wall,
And your losing your grip, so you're feeling it slip from your fingers,
But if write it down then love is a story that's all
Jenny got back
From the walk in the woods
And carried the flowers inside,
But she'd cut life at the stem
For it's beauty so then
They had wilted and withered and died."
So golden-stemmed, lily-white,
Flowers of paradise,
Perfectly plastic, unreal,
Are the sole mediators,
Between love and hate,
And the things we'd rather not feel
Thanks for your time,
And the memories that will last for a while.
I heard it on the wire that you're heading down her way,
Do me a favour, if you get the chance to say,
Tell her I'm not great, but I'm doing okay,
Just to save her asking
Tell her I still think about waking up that day,
And not really knowing why it is she'd gone away,
But don't let her explain, it's easier that way,
I'm better off not knowing
Chorus:
Tell her I love her still
Tell her I hate her and I always will
Tell her everything I never told her myself
I miss you, I don't miss you,
I miss you, I don't miss you,
I don't know
And when you're with her won't you take her in your arms
Stand still for a moment and share the peace and calm,
Then push her away just enough to do her harm
Just so she's knows how I'm feeling
And when you talk to her don't look her in the eye,
In conversation try to tell a thousand lies,
Then leave without a word, don't even say goodbye,
So she knows how I'm feeling
Rep Chorus
I knew when I met you, you would leave me broken hearted,
But if you can't stand loosing love then don't even start it
Rep Chorus
An angel was pressed
To the window, caressed
By the light of the sun,
As it bounced off her dress,
And I hid my eyes,
So I wouldn't go blind,
And heard as she started to sing
She said "It's never too late,
It's always too soon,
But I'm not gone,
I'm just in the next room",
When I opened the door though,
She asked me what for,
How could I believe anything?
I never meant to argue or be rude,
With my misunderstanding of a meaningless platitude,
But it's hard not to break
In the grip of such pain,
Living here, where tears remain
I opened my eyes and I swore I'd go with her,
As returning believers came back to the river,
Where the current of love
And the vultures and doves,
Were circled and hidden away
But the atheist raven,
Revealed the man,
Who was naked and bleeding
From wounds in his hands,
Then as he drowns and dies
As he's being baptized
To be lost and sink once again
Your jaw for news has sucked the cool sweat from the skin,
You've tasted salt for thirst without ever knowing what was within
You've wiped your mouth, but it still bears the stain,
Of the blood where tears remain
I turned around and reached for my key,
Returned to waiting for it to come to me,
And the angel concurred, "It's all word against word,
Even knowing is knowing alone."
For the window is only some sand and some sticks
A basic conclusion like all the best tricks,
Was it made to reveal
What the red bricks conceal,
Or a painting long carved in the stone?
Eternally yours
But with no answer to your lie
But never pretending, that a myth can never die
I see your face, and speak of your name
But that's all, where tears remain.
"It is the bright day that brings forth the adder
And that craves wary walking"
"What am I doing here?" he said,
In oblique surprise,
Silver hangings from a golden bed,
Sparkled in his eyes.
"I am not holy, I am not true,
I am not worthy of being loved by you."
She said, "Blow the candle out."
And she takes him by his hand,
Presses to her cheek,
In a moment both understand,
Neither needs to speak,
Unbearably perfect, bodies divine,
Circled lovers moving outside time,
She said, "Blow the candle out."
"What am I doing here?" he'll say,
From a bed of stone.
Wide-eyes open in the bright day,
With the safe dark flown.
And he will be sorry,
And he'll never know if they were dying,
Or if it's the way things go
When you blow the candle out.
The city is turned by the stiffness
Of the rotten and wretched and rust-
Covered fingers that reach for forgiveness
And close around handfuls of dust.
Of the men who can't see past their faces,
Through the gauntlet of spotlights and stars,
Only seeking out never-known places
To hide their scars
It's a long way home,
I don't feel right,
I can't go home tonight.
Her face in the night was sub-ghostly,
White on white, so sadly demure.
I was afraid it was mostly
My own sins that I saw in her.
She said, "Love embrace the chaotic
Never live for this moment again."
And her blank eyes were dull but hypnotic
As we danced in the rain.
It's a long way home,
The light's too bright,
I can't go home tonight.
The stars in the night like pinpricks of glory
Trace escape across the sky
Saying, "Darkness is only a part of our story,
That moaning is only the sigh
Of the suffering wind of infinity calling":
I'm rising and soaring until,
I know just enough to admit that I'm falling
And know that I ‘m still
A long way from home,
My throat is tight,
It's a long way home tonight
Once again 5 a.m. and I'm kneeling,
Thinking back to the season before,
The grope of my fingers still feeling
For the cracks at the foot of the door.
And I miss everyone who's behind me,
Unpunished, unpurged and impaled
On each beam of light that reminds me
How badly I've failed.
It's a long way home,
This un-Holy light,
I can't go home tonight.
It's a long way home,
I don't feel right
I can't go home tonight.
I met a child; I asked, "Are you sacred,
Do you see through un-washed eyes?
You've touched this rock, it looks still but it's moving"
He said, "I'll forgive you but don't ask twice,"
And he smiled, the saddest smile I've ever known
And he turned and walked against the turning of the stone
Still so blind, to the visions and the motions of the mind
I met a man who had heard of my trouble,
I reached for him he turned away,
"My hands are bloody; they'll just convict you,
Forget that you saw me and head on your way"
So it goes, when wisdom and experience decline
So confused in the knowledge of their failure to find
What is meant by the visions and the motions of the mind.
I saw a mob and their cry was contagious
With sharpened tongues and iron barbed words
I said, "Let me in on a piece of your anger
I'm sure I feel the same," but no one heard
As their songs crescendoed and emptied my head
With its lines to pity and protect the nameless dead
Always resigned to the visions and the motions of the mind
So as the past in time's hopeless anger
Collapses, unearthed, lies cold and bleak
We shout at these bones demanding guidance
Whilst learning at last that bones don't speak
What is gained? The image of a child, a mob, a man
Closely framed within the journey of existing as they can
Still confined by the visions and the motions of the mind
Things are going slowly down on Waterfall Lane,
Where the inmates stand for mockery and theft,
The poet writes his lines ‘How can I find myself again?'
But knowing all the while he never left.
In the house of the forgiven, the mad and the diseased
Hear the dancing of the idiotic boy,
The pulsing and the drumming must be heard to be believed
Until your orders come to search and to destroy
Goodbye, first love,
And the memories of laughter that remain,
Let's drown them in this pool that's growing deeper every day
From the gutters down on Waterfall Lane
In the house of the forgotten, where the food they eat is cold
And every flag blows for a different colour,
The faceless patient weeps but no one cares as he is told
To scorn the dull to ridicule the duller
And we listen at the windows and the cracks across the walls
Growing longer, deeper, wider, so it seems,
To halcyon days of innocence that nobody recalls,
Confusing the divide between true stories and our dreams
Goodbye, first love,
I swear you'll never hear from me again,
You didn't listen then and you will never get it now
That I am singing down on Waterfall Lane.
She loved me like a lightbulb, turning on and turning off
Ecstatic to have left me in the dark:
I try to say I love you but these days I only cough
And a waxing moon still guides me to my mark
So kiss him like you kissed me, hold his hand like you held mine,
And watching all the while I'll close the door,
Sadly leaving you but hearing just in time,
You tell him that you've never felt a love like this before
So it's, goodbye first love,
I'm glad you've found a way to kill the pain,
‘Cause I'm still burning, thrashing pointless anger at the gates
That hold me down here on Waterfall Lane
Momentary faces seen by candlelight,
Halfway drunk on a wet night,
Where nothing attracts like the flash of clothes.
Oh, you're a pretty one there's no doubt,
With a harmony of words weaving in and out,
I could stay with you I suppose
But, oh, you don't know me,
The way that she did,
You're a sweet kid
But I can't love you
I shot and locked you on a cloudless day,
The brightness of your eyes upon a call of grey,
Making mermaids sing to me, not each to each
But draw a breath and the sirens gone,
Leaving a second to reflect upon
You're high on the wall, in view but out of reach
But, oh, you don't know me,
The way that she did,
You're a sweet kid
But I can't love you
The long walk home when it's cold and fine,
You in your overcoat and me in mine,
You're shutting out, I'm shutting in
The idiots we are when we walk so fast
Knowing that our next step could be our last:
Why so sad, it's only skin
But, oh, you don't know me,
The way that she did,
You're a sweet kid
But I can't love you
He watched outside from the inside,
Then suddenly kicked at the door,
Broke the chain, split the tear
"Come with me into the garden,
Come let us fly, spread our wings
Beat the sky, beat the air.
"Look at the world that surrounds us,
Don't you shiver at the sight?
Come take my hand we'll fly from the garden,
I can't be alone tonight."
She quietly watched him,
Then tugged at his arm, said "Lie down,
I'll hold you tonight."
"For what if we fall?" she said,
"What if the wind, takes our wings
Leaves us lost in the night
"Look at that black dome above us,
Don't you shiver at the sight?
Come take my hand, we'll hide from the garden,
I can't be alone tonight."
I watched inside from the outside,
I shouted and screamed
Then I sneered, then I laughed, then I cried
It's a slow, savage bitterness
Caused by moments of fear when you know
You can't fly, you just hide
I spit at the stars and I stagger
Through moments of darkness and flashes of light
I pity the fool who has feelings
I can't be alone tonight
