The strange perfume I was leaking when I loved you has ceased to reek of weakness and it is the same, it is the same, I am cold and alone but it’s peaches so don’t speak sweetly, don’t tread lightly, my head’s not so heavy, the world’s not so frightening the livestock’s been pastured, amen to that chapter, “amen, amen amen” but hey when will I see you again? Hey when, Hey when, hey when, Hey when will I see you…. again? Hey when you build things you curse like a sailor and the walls grow straight out of your mind Hey when you laugh you sway like the dogwood and the forest hollers back across time. Hey when it stops, the sound settles, the heat wears off all the finches get lost the walls wilt back to dust and the last photo of our old life on some stock images website And a dumb top 10 love songs I can sleep and still sing along with that tasteless guitar riff root third fifth, root third fifth, intro verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus and a tag of the first line of the first verse to bring it all back around and wrap it up like a piece of fruit turning soft on the counter my sweet sticky love for you gone fly strike and sour to contaminate rat legs and black plague and black plague where last year at this time I was not sick yet, you were not sick of it can't write the apocalypse while caught in the thick of it of construction work and traffic lights neon orange and kelly green and reflective bright white lines but I want the dogwood and maple and pine (x4) so don't say that I didn't try to be kind and don't say the whole world’s apple pie to the blind ‘cause it all looks delicious and my eyesight is fine the joy of just breathing is unceasingly lovely and savory and divine so don't say those tethers were inexplicably re-tied ‘cause I watch them flailing I saw us, we tried…I saw us. And I watched the metropolis grind up virgin forest and dry up the creekbed, don't say it was justified

Walking to find where the water originated My love is hung over and cannot get out of bed Always trading the laughter of night for the next morning’s head I said whatever the difference, I’ll pay it for you I’ll delay the day toward you Will you come to the door, will my love roll you over? Oh, the booze has been begging me too like I know it begs you To move on and let go or get sober But can ya see the light coming for us, it’s right at the corner It could be so much better It could be so much better It could be so much better It could be so much better

I am all alone among an overgrown patch of woods in early autumn And the leaves beneath my feet are brittle because it hasn't rained in weeks I'm in my head and hyper-spiritual: "man right now I feel so endless" What an irony the world around me is winding down into a deep sleep. Have I ever realized how many last breaths are the first frost Have I ever even stopped to ask why If there's resistance in my heart toward the day my soul departs Is that animal, vegetable, mineral, or just impractical What's the cost of being "technological"? Oh, the water gets cloudy when the river runs low and the streets are full of strangers that you're never gonna know There's a wound that never closes, every vessel's got a hole And death is always right around the corner - so look alive while you're alive to look at it all.

I want a clearer stream, I want a greener leaf I want a trustworthy future And a convenient belief There is a hope you don't know yet There is a joy - it doesn't show yet It hangs in the branches and boughs you haven't grown yet There is a yes when your head says "no way" Stuck in your soul is a truth that won't disappate There is a love that belongs to the whole world and it never runs out on you.

DARK A Dark, dark, dark it’s dark E A Down in my heart it’s dark Capsized and caught off-guard E A Down in my heart it’s dark E A Down in my heart it’s dark. When, when, when again E A Will I become the woman I’ve been And break the branch that barely bends E A Beneath my present efforts E A Beneath my present efforts Am Dark, dark, dark it’s dark Em Am Down in my heart it’s dark Capsized and caught off-guard Em Am Down in my heart it’s dark Em Am Down in my heart it’s dark. When, when, when again Em Am Will I become the woman I’ve been And break the branch that barely bends Em Am Beneath my present efforts Em Am Beneath my present effort (instrumental break) Am Em Am Em Am Em D Am AH HA AH HA AH AH What did they expect from me? Love and string and endless bead? But I don’t wear much jewelry I cannot hold everything (x8) D C I only have two hands. C Am C Am I only have two hands and brittle bones, there are things so heavy I just had to let them go C Am C And watch them glide, like a bird that found it’s window and had to go home Am Had to go home C F Because some lungs just need open air while others breathe what’s barely there C F And some can sip to quench a thirst while others must be fully immersed C F And me I find myself begging to drown, saturated in shimmer and sound C G So give me breath and spirit song, til i’m gone, till i'm waterlogged Am G Rhythm, melody and verse til it hurts, til it hurts Am C I’m a crumbling mess at my very best Am C Am Take it or leave it but let me rest, til I’ve mended D G D Til I’m whole again Am Til I’ve befriended G D G My own soul again Am C Am C Til it hurts, til it sparks, til I’m sure, til it’s dark Am D Am Til it hurts, til it sparks, til I’m sure, til it’s dark dark dark it’s dark Em Am Down in my heart it’s dark Dark dark dark it’s dark Em Am Down in my heart it’s dark.

How do the living people look death in the face How do they keep daily composure and embrace each other Knowing it will end before too long Knowing it will end before too long No sum of love can stop the body from the dust it must become.

Daniel with a rollie Rambling something about meaning, meaning Flannel shirt unbuttoned, and nothing underneath, neath I loved you when the world was green loved when we’d descend to dream and back again, I loved you then and will until the very end what we have, can’t even call it friends its something else, often unsaid Joy wading in the ocean, coaxing me out onto the beach, beach sing whatever word she thinks of and sinks off into the deep, deep I loved you when the lights went off Loved our laughter and endless talk back to back in bed I loved you then and will until the very end what we have, can’t even call it friends It’s something else, often unsaid I loved you when our voices rose in city-bars and back yard shows for every yes I heard when the world said no from the overflow, from the overflow from the overflow, from the overflow. What are we if not drawn onward toward a new love, toward each other what are we if not better together come what must be, come whatever