1. MIXED AND MEASURE

Words are dead when nothing’s said
Like holding water with a net
Trapped and caught up in the thorns
Prying hinges from the doors

If we are islands where two times meet
We’ll dance with poison promises to keep
Plant trees so far in the past
That every night will seem like the last

I remember now the sounds
The dying echoes never found
Heartbeats growing farther apart
All our time spent comparing scars


2. A LIKELY STORY

You’re telling me such likely stories
And I want to believe they’re true
You’re selling me such sweet little lies
I run but barely move

You say everyone lives in the mountains
So I’m always looking up above
You’re filling up these empty places
With your hollow words of love

I forgot to mention all those silences
Between the words and the deeds
I’d retrace my steps in so many places
But I’m cut off at the knees

You snow down after midnight
With a quiet flapping of wings
While I listen to the dark sky falling
And slip on Saturn’s rings

And when light shone despite the daggers
And staggered across my room
I believed you own the universe
The sun, the stars, and the moon


3. LIVING WELL

Like last clasped arms
These questions, nowhere
Two hearts filled with sand

You climb through how
Many windows
Grasping with busy hands
Eyes turning gray
A field of timbre
Much more to say
Do you remember
You’re a living well
I’ve fallen deeply
Your gentle hell
I’m drowning sleeping

There was a time
Out of proportion
When we were living well
And I can’t ask
For your vision
Just wait for you to tell
And the earth
It waves for you
I’ll try to ride the swell

Eyes turning gray
A field of timbre
Much more to say
Do you remember
You’re a living well
I’ve fallen deeply
Your gentle hell
I’m drowning sleeping


4. WAY BACK WHEN

You’re walking from room to room
At the pace of glaciers
The wind, the wind between the walls
All the too well-known faces,
Every memory

In the bright yellow light of morning
At the top of the stairs
Watch the dolls leap over the railing
With all your childhood fears
And every memory

Taking pictures in front of the farmhouse
Another act of healing
While inside all the dusty doorways
The wallpaper is peeling
With every memory
You’re halfway to the sea


5. SNOWED UNDER

Crossing the Calvert Bridge
Bitter and cold
My fingers frozen
I’ve lost my soul

So heavy is the air
On sunken streets
Nothing to dream of
Nothing to speak

Far from the harbor
Down on the ice
Everything in the world
Before my eyes
The starry ride


6. WITHOUT WITHIN

You’ve been so cruel
And I’ve been a fool
What can I do
But get over you
I’m just a tunnel
And you’re passing through
You are the earth
And I, the moon
Moments, they pass so slowly
For you’ve got nothing to say
The sponge pressed to my lips
Vinegar every day

My name is Trouble
And it’s a two-sided knife
So I pretend not to care
And rob my way through life
Plant my feet on higher ground
Don’t want to play the clown
But you’re off like an arrow
And I’m cut down
These words are passing
Songs written in chalk
I’ll hide myself under leaves
And keep alive the spark


7. TANGLED AND TROUBLED

All the savor gone
The first wrath, before song
My soul is no ghost
No secret of Job

Its voice of rupture
After another upheaval
I no longer look
Through the open windows
All our conversations
My words raining over you
Tangled and troubled
Just another piece of string


8. REPRIEVE

(Instrumental)