I’ve dropped a batch of seedlings, see
they’ve set up shop upon the lawn
I’ll rake them into quiet piles and scratch
the earth until they’re gone
Oh darling, it’s not mine to know,
what son will strike a lighter blow
and leave you better off to show
Don’t do me kind, don’t let me call
upon a tongue I drew before
I came to rest a bitter guest--
best show me kindly to the door
I left a mark upon their wall
Don’t ask me where (I can’t recall)
No great escape was ever made
to sit cross-legged in a grave,
to wait for dark, to pray for rain
I’ll spare the print to speak it plain:
we’ve long since lost a plot to claim
The bells are pealing out our names
(to smoke them out the way they came)
It left its mark upon my wall
Don't ask me where (I can't recall)
10. Salt
You should be scared
And what’s a wife that’s never there?
And I am one to share
what I have come to bear
Suffer what they will not speak
and they want naught to do with me
Quite a scene, a chance for ready eyes
to carve a name to prize and send
no breath to sting the air
The wall will sing the lion’s share
It’s not hard-- it’s hard to stop
A stack of smoke that spills a mouth
Found you once, I found you out
A stack of smoke that kills a mouth
Suffer what they will not speak
and they want naught to do with me
Borrowed things are nothing had, and now
it’s made him something sad
to shadow when he’s walking slow
no matter now-- they know, they know
In the summer, long ago
we gave the winter quite a blow
fell asleep, and don’t you know,
we fell asleep and woke to snow