I went down to the gas station
For no particular reason
Heard the screams from the high school
It's football season

Empty lot the station faces
Will probably be there forever
I climbed over the four foot fence
I was trying to sever the tether

Moon in the sky
Cold as a stone
Spend each night in your arms
Always wake up alone

I lay down in the weeds
It was a real cold night
I was happy 'til the overnight attendant
Switched on the floodlight

Walking home I was talking to you under my breath
Saying things I would never say directly
I heard a siren on the highway up ahead
Kinda wished they'd come and get me

Frost on the sidewalk
White as a bone
Tried to get close to you again
Always wake up alone

And as I was crossing our doorstep
I hesitated just a moment there
Remembered the day we moved in to our small house
'Til the vision got too vivid to bear

You were almost asleep
Halfway undressed
I lay right down next to you
held your head against my chest

And a guy with any kind of courage
would maybe stop to think the matter through
Maybe hold you still and raise the question
Instead of blindly holding onto you

But we crank up the heat
And you giggle and moan
Spend all night in the company of ghosts
Always wake up alone

This song is for the rats
Who hurled themselves in to the ocean
When they saw that the explosives in the cargo hold
Were just about to blow

This song is for the soil
That's toxic clear down to the bedrock
Where no thing of consequence can grow
Drop your seeds there
Let them go

Let them all go
Let 'em all go

This song is for the people
Who tell their families that they're sorry
For things they can't and won't feel sorry for

And once there was a desk
And now it's in a storage locker somewhere
And this song is for the stick pins and the cottons
I left in the top drawer

Let 'em all go
Let 'em all go

I wanna sing one for the cars
That are right now headed silent down the highway
And it's dark and there is nobody driving
And something has got to give

I saw you waiting by the roadside
You didn't know that I was watching
Now you know
Let it all go

Let 'em all go
Let it all go

Stood near the cage of the prize-fighting ****
The sun cut through the clouds but the air pressure dropped
And I touched your hair for the very first time
I have that moment with me now, it's all mine
And you showed me a thing or two about power
In its purest form

A few minutes later, you went back inside
And I stood near the clothesline where strips of beef dried
Hanging in the noon-day sun
Flies were buzzing nearby
And then your face in the window caught my eye
And you showed me a thing or two about power
In its purest form

Things don't look much different now from where I stand
Looking for you, camera in hand
Someone's gone away and someone's gotten taller
But the world stopped turning and the universe is much smaller
Since you showed me a thing or two about power
In its purest form
Yeah you showed me a thing or two about power
In its purest form

I saw the darkness coming down
It posed no threat to me
I let the darkness ease its way around
It was every good thing I'd expected it would be
I saw you coming
Through the twisting vines outside
I saw the new moon collide
With the stars clustered around her

I saw the young fruit on the new lime
I felt your breath catch its rhythm
I heard your legs push away the tall dry brush
I saw the moon and the stars
And knew the secrets within them
I heard you saying my name into my ear
No one has to tell me why you've come here
'Cause I know
I know
I know

Come down in the flatland
Show me your shoulder
Wait now where the black hand touches us
We'll both grow older

And the sky above us
And the ground beneath us
And the air around us
And the ocean to the right

Measure your arm length
I can't live without it
I treasure those thirty inches
I want to talk about it.

And the sky above us
And the ground beneath us
And the air around us
And the ocean to the right

Love you in the cold air
Your long hair makes me shiver
Above you I see the sun
Light up every sliver

And the sky above us
And the ground beneath us
And the air around us
And the ocean to the right

And the sky above us
And the ground beneath us
And the air around us
And the ocean to the right

Here come the times of changing tide
Here come the days of light and grace
Here come the hours of wordless wondrousness
Light, light will fill this humble place

When you come the stars will shine brighter than spun gold
When you come the world will seem shiny and new
My mom told me that someday someone like you would come to set things right
'Til you come I'll keep this place ready for you

I saw them riding up the road
And I swept and scrubbed the stable twice
Filled it with golden yellow straw, sweet and clean
I did my best to make things nice

When you come the stars will shine brighter than spun gold
When you come the world will seem shiny and new
My mom told me that someday someone like you would come to set things right
Until you come I'll keep this place ready for you

I've been living hand-to-mouth for a year or better
When the mailman comes and he gives me your letter
And I recognize the handwriting even now
But I go ahead and open it anyhow, yeah
No one's been buying from my roadside stand and I
Hold your letter like a cross in my hand
I'm gonna wrap up my troubles
I'm gonna wrap up my troubles
I am gonna wrap up my troubles
In you

I went out into the kitchen
Where the light comes through the four-paneled window
Clean and bright
And it's taken me this long to realize
How much I like the way that you dot your "i"s
I was born in Indiana thirty years ago
I got a mean, cruel hunger down below
And I'm gonna wrap up my troubles
I am gonna wrap up my troubles
I'm gonna wrap up all my troubles
In you

The sun above me and a concrete floor below
Scratch at the chain links maybe bare my teeth for show
Fed twice a day I don't go hungry anymore
Feel in my bones just what the future has in store
I pace in circles so the camera will see
Look hard at my stripes, there'll be no more after me

Laze by the shoreline while the sailors disembark
Scratch out a place to sit and rest down in the dark
Smell something burning downwind just a little ways
They set up camp and sing and sweat and work for days
I have no fear of anyone I'm dumb and wild and free
I am a flightless bird and there'll be no more after me

In Costa Rica in a burrow underground
Climb to the surface, blink my eyes and look around
I'm all alone here as I try my tiny song
Claim my place beneath the sky but I won't be here for long
I sang all night the moon shone on me through the trees
No brothers left and there'll be no more after me

You're a strong one
You're a lion
You're brave
And death defying

You're in your car
Crossing town
And I can feel you
Coming down

You're so pretty
I could burst
And I wonder
Who's gonna talk first?

My muscles all shaking
Blood's turned to foam
It's Tuesday
And you're coming home

Let the stars come out, and the moon shine bright
We're sleeping on the porch tonight
Wind blew all the power lines down
Watch where you step if you go walking around

This may be the night
Our bodies fill with light
And we may hover above
The surface of
Our warm, lonely planet

Let cooling rains come, let them fall
Let the grass grow strong and tall
Let the dandelions breed
Give me what you know I need

This may be the night
Our bodies fill with light
And we may hover above
The surface of
Our warm, lonely planet

The cabbages that I will grow
One by one and row on row
Will fatten in the spring sun
And breathe in the evening air

And you will hear them breathing
If you walk by at night
You may not hear them after all
But that's all right

I've set the table for two
I've cleaned the windows for you
I've got cinnamon from Jakarta
For making French toast
The doctor says that I've got
Thirty days left at most

The cabbages that I will grow
The love songs on the radio
Will deepen in the springtime
They'll be brighter than the stars

when you come, if you come
make sure you bring some bubble gum.
and a great big bottle of cheap gin, yeah
don't bother knocking, you can just waltz right in.

when you come, if you do come by
make sure you wear your skirt real high.
there's cracked ice in the freezer
and glasses in the sink
you can lie down on the sofa, and I'll fix us both a drink.
and we will teach ourselves to pray in languages
that we don't really speak.
and we will lie about the way it used to be.

when you come, if you come
bring a couple of coconuts and i'll supply the ***.
and i will dim the lights, pull all the drapes
throw in those near forgotten video tapes.
yeah when you come, if you make it out this far
you better leave your pride out in the car.
and you wanna make sure that you bring along some means for forgetting where it was that we went wrong.
and we will teach ourselves to pray in languages
that we don't really speak.
and we will lie about the way it used to be.

lob some spit at the window
watch it run down the pane
it's only the guilty
who concern themselves
with clearing their names

you bring tidings of hope,
false tidings
when you come here
there's two friends who did me wrong
that you're protecting
it's so clear

and when you speak it's those two
who speak through you
who'll speak for me?
the burning and the electricity

sun goes down San Francisco
friends are hard to find
chew them up just as quick
as I can find them
try to clear my mind

remember hours at the table
gauze flight light easing through
if there's one thing
that I'm not going to do tonight
it's die for you

'cause when you speak it's those two
who speak through you
who'll speak for me
the burning and the electricity

You come around here when the lights are down low
And you hang around for six or seven hours and then you get ready to go
Well I remember when you used to kiss me without me asking you to
Yeah I remember when you used to

When I lean toward to you, you turn away
It's a quarter past one A.M. on a warm Saturday
That's alright, that's alright, I hear you
Don't do anything you don't wanna do
But I remember when you used to kiss me without me asking you to
Yeah I remember when you used to

You will not call my memory into question
You will not question my memory
See there was you and me up on a hilltop by ourselves
And then the red clouds dispersing above me
I should have killed myself
When I found out how beautiful you are
But everyone makes mistakes sometimes

As the afternoon sky opened up its mouth
And the air cooled down one or two degrees
I felt the world within me screaming to come out
and then I looked up at you and your hair spilled down over me

I felt you breathing on me and I heard your voice
Your eyes were twin bonfires and your lips were moist
I should have killed myself
When I found out how beautiful you are
But everyone makes mistakes sometimes

I thought that I was in control
When I saw her coming, and I reached out my hand
You, you, you would think so too
But there is something here that you do not understand
She's got skin that you would not believe
I saw her skin and I went out of my mind
She's got skin more perfect than the sky
And I reached out my hand and left the world behind

Before I knew what I was talking about
I used to say that what I saw through my window
Was beauty itself, those strong white camellias
But now I see her coming, and I just don't think so
She's got skin that cannot be obtained
By letting yourself in for a thousand stitches
I reached out my hand and I walked out into the rain
There was light behind the clouds
You could just see it coming

Autumn came around like a drifter to an on-ramp
There were wet leaves floating in gutters full of rain
Took to walking barefoot around town
Melodies from grade-school kicking in my brain

Saw you on the crosstown bus today
You were reading a magazine
I turned my face away
And I shut my eyes tight
Dreamed about the flowers that hide from the light
On dark hillsides in the hidden places

The brakes howled and the bus pulled up near my house
And I got off at the corner
Pulled my sleeves down over my hands, over my hands
And I wished I was someone else
And I wished it was warmer

And when I got home I thought about you
Like a desperate policeman searching for clues
And I almost passed out just then
And I shut my eyes again
Headed for the dark hillsides
In the hidden places

rushing strawberries one by one
Watching the juice drip down
Two and a half months ahead of schedule
The leaves on the trees are turning brown
We got ready for winter, as the sun rose up in the sky
There was something almost soothing in the hard-to-define
Note of terror in your eye

Watching the strawberries lose their shapes
As the wind blew through the elm tree
The wind was far too cold for the middle of April
And you reached out your hand to me
It was good to feel your hand in mine
It was good to know you felt the chill too
I scooped up a palm full of strawberry pulp
And smeared it all over you

The wild strawberries drove me on, as I lapped them up off of your skin
And I could feel your basal body temperature rise as the cold came in
Hey hey

And meanwhile downstairs, I'm setting up shop
A little too proud to let the matter drop
And I can hear you up there, isn't it romantic?
You're huffing and puffing, rearranging
Deck chairs on the Titanic
And I reach for a glass of cool water drawn
From the rivers of Babylon

And meanwhile outside, the stars have come out
And the humid summer air pulls at the ring in my snout
And you stand at your window looking down
And I spread wide my arms
Jump if you wanna jump, jump if you want to
The water's warm
I know
I know 'cause I've been swimming
Blindly along
Through the rivers of Babylon

we live high, our love gorges on the alcohol we feed it.
and it grows all fat and friendly
we have surplus if we need it.
we hold on as hard as we can.
our knuckles are white.
we write letters to each other, invent secrets to confess to.
I learn foreign and exotic terms of endearment by which to address you.
we feed fresh fruit to one another.
we stay up all night.
I am healthy, I am whole, but I have poor impulse control.
and I want to go home.
but I am home.

we are strong, we are faithful,
we are guardians of a rare thing.
we pay close careful attention to the news the morning air brings.
we show great loyalty to the hard times we've been through.
we are filled with riches and wonders,
our love keeps the things it finds.
and we dance like drunken sailors, lost at sea out of our minds.
you find shelter somewhere in me,
I find great comfort in you.
and I keep you safe from harm.
you hold me in your arms, and I want to go home.
but I am home