 |
|
The Animal Groom |
|
|
|
The Animal Groom |
|
All Lyrics © The Winterlings (Amanda Birdsall & Wolff Bowden) 2008 ASCAP |
|
Take Give |
If I walked across the sea
would you walk along with me
our footsteps on the tides
and waves upon our thighs?
I just want to grab you in my arms
I want to breathe you in my lungs
and set continents adrift
If you take then I will give.
There are stations of the cross
where blood no longer falls
and people board their trains
as if leaving left no stain…
I just want to roll into the night
I want to hold you in my eyes
In this bedroom where we live
If you take then I will give.
There are storms when you are sad
and sunshine when you laugh
If you don’t know which way to go
Just reach out for my hand
I just want to shake the day away
I just want touch your blushing face
In this small house where we live
If you take then I will give.
There are countries in your soul
where no one’s ever roamed
If I sing for you tonight?
would you let me inside
I just want to sail into the west
On a ship made out of breath
with the wind of your bright kiss
If you take then I will give.
|
All of the Good Things |
We will live again
light and shining
family of friends
truth unwinding
You’ll wear the dress I made
I’ll try your wings
we will remember
all of the good things
Writing letters
prayers and wishes made
we will understand
all of it someday
But in the meantime, love,
I choose to sing
I choose to remember
all of the good things
Flowered climbing vines
blooming toward the light
you left suddenly
we were all surprised
I heard your voice today
in this old machine
it made me remember
all of the good things
|
Long May You Live |
To the oaks outside my window, long may you live
To dreamers with their tubes of paint and brush-stroke canvases
To rooms where people make love and the breath with which they sing
Long may you live
To the smiling Dalai Lama, long may you live
They slaughtered all your people, and yet somehow you forgive
To leaves on apple trees performing photosynthesis
Long may you live
To the music in our marrow, long may you live
To the moon that hides in ocean tides and brings the sailors in
To sleep that keeps us wrapped tight in the night’s black velvet skin
Long may you live
To the wolves that roam in Yellowstone, long may you live
To the suicidal poets who use ink as medicine
To the acrobats who try to fly time and time again
Long may you live
To the Artists of America, long may you live
To the Alabama blacksmith forging horseshoes for his kids
To the little nun from Vietnam who plays a violin
Long may you live
To Chemists in their lonely labs, long may you live
To surgeons in their bloody shirts and all the hearts they fix
To this impressive planet may she spin and spin and spin
Long may you live
|
Bird in the Corn |
In my dream we were planting trees
bloodtwig dogwood and sycamore
Sometimes I don’t say what I mean
leaving you like a bird in the corn
We don’t ask, we don’t recognize
when the rain pours like a wound
We stayed up all night to watch the lightning
storm turn trees into piles of wood
Swing slow sweet blade
hungry for all you take away
no one can say
when you’ll come and return us to the clay
Daylight comes and the fields are flooded
we watch the farmers from the roof
All their shining brides are hiding
in the cloak of the animal groom
Bat flies in through the attic window
spider hides behind the door
Aren’t we just like them, finding shelter
where we can like a bird in the corn
|
The Postman |
Yes, I’m just a Postman
I’ve been walking all my life
I still love September when
the leaves turn into fire
I’ve heard that there are letters
that burn blisters on your hands
I never wrote somethin’ like that
but if I had the chance…
Come Wind, come Snow, come Rain
come Heartbreak, Hurricane
I’m on my way
I’m on my way
I saw Ms. Melissa
with her face wrapped up in gauze
so I took her walking
down along the reservoir
She said she was broken
and I pointed to the swan
everybody knows her wing
was shattered by a car
Come wind…
I carry all these letters
But I don’t know what’s inside
I stare into the mirror
and the words begin to rise
I finally wrote a poem when
her bandages came off
then I spent the winter
with my lips on every scar
Come wind…
Yes, I’m just a Postman
I’ve been lonely all my life
But now that summer’s coming
I find love is in my stride
I wrote Ms. Melissa
every poem of my days
Every book of wilderness
every word of flames
|
Ballad of Jennie Hodgers |
I left my
parents across the ocean
just shy of 20, I was free
I cut my hair and bound my breast
and joined the Army of the Tennessee
oh mama, I am your daughter, but a wife I will never be
I’ll be a soldier till my last breath delivers me
I marched on Vicksburg and fought in Guntown
where we lost more than 2,000 men
and though once captured, I got away and
returned to fight on until the end
I mustered out when the war was over
and went back home to find employ
as a janitor and farmhand
on the plains of east Illinois
as a veteran, I was respected
I’d fought for rights men hold so dear
but till those freedoms extend to women
I’ll live my days as Albert Cashier
I’m no one’s mother, I'm no one’s father
leave my estate in the county’s hands
and bury me in dark blue trousers
like any other Union man
|
Lauren’s Forest |
We went down to Lauren’s Forest
just the other afternoon
She was buried in those cedars
seven years ago last June
I can’t remember how she smiled
I dug a hundred pictures out
and threw them all into the fire
and nearly burned our new house down
Breathing in, I’m breathing in
Breathing out, I’m breathing out
feel the sunlight on my skin feel my feet upon the ground
Now, Ooh Now. Now, Ooh Now
Just three weeks before our wedding
she went swimming in the lake
I found her body pale and floating
like a boat in outer space
I couldn’t stop my eyes from crying
My voice from calling her name out
On the day we planned our wedding
I put my shotgun in my mouth
I was sitting in the closet
when her sister Clara came
and reached into my deepest darkness
and pulled the shotgun from my face
Some nights I hear Lauren whisper
will you come to see me soon?
I know you married my younger sister
I love you both, you know I do
On a cold and foggy morning
Clara gave birth to a girl
and now you have a little angel
to carry your name around the world
|
Flying Kites By Moonlight |
You drew a line in the sand
so we could find our way back
You always think of things like that
things like bug spray and sun hats
But now the sun is on the rise
in West African skies
leaving you and I
on the edge of night
flying kites
You held me close, under the stars
my ear to your heart
singing its song of water and blood
and of the love you came from
But now the sun is on the rise
in West African skies
leaving you and I
on the edge of night
flying kites
She worked for hours, tears on her face
digging a nest for her eggs
we watched them fall smooth and white
you said it was a good sign
And now the sun is on the rise
in our part of the sky
bathing you and I
in the morning light
warm and bright
|
Brave Then |
I miss the scent of ashes and wind
in clothes we dried over the fire
that autumn in Austin when love was a novel
that stretched on for hundreds of miles
The circus rolled past as we sat by the tracks
the lions asleep in their hay
I knew I’d be leaving without giving you reason
When I saw the bear in his chains…
Megan, I wish I’d been brave then
I threw your wedding dress into the fire
and all September burned to embers
when all I ever wanted was your smile
Ten years have gone since I slept in your arms
my hat pulled down over my face
Oh how you danced with the sky in your hands
I’m still in love with those days
I wasn’t there when you cried on the stairs
and the sadness rose up through your blood
The first one who came, yeah,
when he spoke your name, yeah
You married him fast as you could
And I have fallen like the leaves
It could have been. It could have been. Me.
Orchids have fallen from clouds blue and swollen
and rivers have entered the sea
Time has gone twisted like vines as you kissed him
and I think you were thinking of me
Now worn photographs are all that I have
and a scrap of white lace that I saved
From the dress that you wore when I couldn’t be yours
but, I’m yours, yeah, I’m yours anyway
|
Wildflowers |
You were born in a hurricane
everyone around you shouting
dirty windows and cigarettes
a TV set and a makeshift bed
Why some babies are born
into hands as hard as concrete walls
and how some rise from the rust
like wildflowers in a field of dust
Sometimes I walk down by the river
Some days I rise at dawn
Some nights I lie awake and wonder
asking questions about right and wrong
Like why some
babies are born
into hands as hard as concrete walls
and how some rise from the rust
like wildflowers in
a field of dust
I saw you yesterday out walking
holding someone else's child
I knew then I’d seen an angel
when I saw him smile, and I realized
|
Belize |
I flew to New York City Just to rent a proper tux
I remember on the runway how the wind tasted like us
By that I mean so free and clean our unkissed lips so clear
that even time and his nine thieves saw nothing they could steal
Sometimes I wonder, why did we leave Belize?
With you in my arms I had all that a man ever needs
but we left it behind with our eyes on the bright
castles of immigrants’ dreams
Sometimes I wonder, why did we leave Belize?
I still keep a picture of the night we went to that dance
We drove to the City in my uncle’s dusty van
The orchid pinned above your heart was just a Jungle gift
my mother sewed some cotton gauze around the humble stem
Sometimes I wonder, why did we leave Belize?
There are symphonies of sentiments I just can’t seem to write
twenty years of books have covered up that perfect night
Now you’ve gone to Boston left our dusty roads behind
I’ve heard that you’re a doctor that you help fix people’s minds
Sometimes I wonder, why did we leave Belize?
Butterfly I miss you I will miss you all my life
If I had the chance for one more dance, I’d make you my wife
The wind is cold as river stones, the winter’s on its way
but I would walk through blizzards just to look upon your face