Once I was a lark, you freed me from my cage
You brought me to the moonlight, I could breathe again
In your eyes I bathed in the moonlight,
In my eyes you did the same
In your love I was saved,
But was caged all the same

I miss the old days, they say
When a hungry heart could pay the soul,
In what little money could not
Though we are histories,
Ages past and generations of believers,
Reaching past the veil, inviting spirits to encompass
What we are nary to offer
Writhing in our insistence to break apart
The bones that gnaw at us, begging for snippets
Of performances, a story, glory
Divinity we forbid ourselves, they say
Why, if I could fly, in song,
Why, if I could enchant those hungry hearts like mine,
I think that would be fine

I unzip all the progress I've made, like a suitcase,
And it all comes tumbling out, every accomplishment,
Every moment I felt a little bit lighter and a little bit better,
I am suffocating. The air is tight and heady and I am choking on it.
I shouldn't be here - shouldn't be here - don't want to be here
Where on earth should I be instead?
It's clammy, I'm queasy, I dread this
Let me throw it all away
Hide my baggage in a dumpster, hide my thrice ****** worries in an
ashtray
Brand name purses of tightly packed I-feel-betters
Lost in luggage claim, their discount replacement from customer service
Just another lie to swallow.
I don't want to wake up again, again, until I have my piece of the world
To own. To fret over. To fill. To be prided on and loved in.
Until then I am a jumble of taut nerves and plans
If no one's got one, then I should have, and
Backpacks, dufflebags, crates, I shouldn't have left my happiness
In things that would arrive too late

Pretty soon I was crying into a cup of tea, drinking in the lightening flashes, waiting for the sudden onslaught then drought of rain
Whispering to her, hushing her ramblings
I didn't even realize I was alone again.

Listen to songs of what had been,
I know it's hard, you chose what happened
Waves crash down and close the gateway
When memories flood them wide open
Oh, come home to me, before I sail away

It's a dreary dawn you've settled down in
It's a misty town you call your medicine
Weather and women work your fingers to bone
You swear up and down this is all worth doing
Come home
Close up shop and rest your face in my arms

But you bar the door of your lonely hotel room
Rest easy in your misery and listen to men
Crooning on about love, of what could have been

Maybe you should have brought your raincoat

I need to get out of this town
I want to feel alive
I need to feel the fire
Because I'm dead inside

I can't kiss a thing,
Without tasting ash
You're the last good thing
That made my armor crack

Now it's rusting down
And I'm feeling the burn
God I'm chasing this town
A jail I did nothing to earn

On the night you left
It was a clear, dark sky
But inside my car it was raining
And the engine rolled into a storm
I saw the lights off a coastguard's boat
Heat from my ring, your name engraved with mine
An icy welt melting against my skin
Then you ask me where I've been,
I've been in the hail of Seattle
Throwing tantrums in front of speeding cars
Kissing the railings off every tall bridge
Lifting myself high in the rigging and tipping back-
I've been teaching myself to breathe where the air is thin