Mother tongue

In my city / shifting sands lie under stone / holy waters / orange waves on private shores / look out or be swallowed whole / living’s not for everyone / hold on to your mother tongue

And resurrection is the only way to cope / rubber bullets broken bones / over and over keep the score / and if you find yourself all strung / choking on your half a lung / hold on to your mother tongue

In my city / when it rains it floods / when it’s hot it boils / we were born in hidden corridors / keep the kids away from doors and windows / lucky blue eye hanging on the walls

Living’s not for everyone / hold on to your mother tongue

Home is so sad

You were lying where / you had cut my hair / right beneath the table / where we eat the bread you make / home is so sad

Glass in our coffee / towels on trees / blood from your nostrils / blood from your ears / soil splattered on our walls like drops of blood / home is so sad

There’s a hole / where your knee should be / but I am not afraid / I am not afraid / home is so sad / it stays as it was left

Sea change

I saw the signs / I felt it in my bones / a new desire / an audacity to hope

In parking lots / we broke our daily bread / we drew the plans / in gardens for the dead
Hear the gunshots / hold on to a stranger’s thighs / hear the gunshots / fireworks and friendly fire

A slow descent / an ever-changing game / I read the lines / it all remains the same

Summer

Pine trees stand as tall as a skyscraper / guardians of the wild / we spend summer days / packed in our tiny house / years turn to hours / soldiers stare as we suntan on the roof / on a summer’s day 

By candlelight we sit outside / waiting for the full moon to rise / we see bridges blow up / from our bedroom balcony / like in the movies / years turn to hours / on a summer’s day

Bruises

I always thought that this would end / with scaffolds crushing me to death / cautionary tales for city boys and girls

Images engraved inside my head / a dying Mozart on the stairs / in an unmarked grave / a bedtime story’s end

“Hush” you whisper “don’t you cry” / you worry that the neighbors might hear me / what can they have to say anyway?

I am on the other side when everything’s in motion / I’m in all the photographs and nowhere in the caption

Poetry and rigidity / the curses you passed on to me / I find myself awake at night / waiting for the day

Please don’t ask me / the customary questions / I don’t know / what can I have to say anyway?

I am on the other side when everything’s in motion / I’m in all the photographs and nowhere in the caption

Flowers in your hair

I saw you there / with your black boyish hair / you were told it would save on water in the war / but it was to avoid the stares of curious boys / you didn’t have a choice / it was better than having your tongue turn to ashes 

Five little girls / born and raised on holy words / surrounded by those who could not see / they played hide and seek / while it rained metal on concrete / where could they hide?

Five little girls / seldom seen and rarely heard / walk out into the world / where could they hide?

I saw you there / with flowers in your hair / and your tongue had turned to ashes

Red

I am by your side

Cherry-colored sky / when the earthquake hits / the chemicals / the dust

Hold on to my arm / you’re my only one / I run on flattened doors / I’ve seen this all before / it flows in my blood

I am by your side / there’s still some glass / on pages of books I can’t read

Let’s get married pack up and leave / there’s a fire in the sky / I try to close my eyes / I’m tired 

January

Boats at our window / parked on our street / we live in water / caught in a stream / cover my ears

I’ve seen the future / it’s all the same / time is the devil’s twisted game / cover my ears

Grief to grow old with / grief as an end / grief as a neighbor / grief as a friend

Scars on the curtains / needles to thread / grief in the way we make our bed

Grief as a daughter / grief over words / cover my ears / I am not here

If I die

I wait for the sun

Let the sun bury me in light / mermaids sing / like in the beginning 

There is nothing left under the sun / houses stand like tombs / bodies back in wombs / there is nothing left but the sun

Bury me in light

Open Waters

And once again I find myself out on the waters
I am the sun I am the captain and the ship

And once again I find myself out in the waters
I am a thousand fish I feed on every shore

Once again I find I can’t break the line
Once again I find I am frozen

Bright Lights

White chalk melting into the ground where we stood, and felt the dust turn in our eyes

The sun strips this city bare, stars pale here, and there’s the tallest building in the world

We’re just passing through this place, all our punches go to
waste, watch the hours go down the drain

Twenty floors we’re up in space, the speeding cars keep me awake , but they don’t seem to trouble you

Bolt down the doors
Close the shutters hold me close
All the bright lights left me cold

As the night turns into day, everything falls into place, yet I dream of nothing new

Looking out it’s all the same, cities hung on swinging cranes, I watch them float away

Bolt down the doors
Close the shutters hold me close
All the bright lights left me cold

Before We Sleep

Feel it slipping right from underneath
in dark hotel rooms when you fall asleep
another moment gone

Tell me now, how does it feel, my darling?
Weren't you told we’re not just tourists here?
Could it be that we’re wasting away?
Another moment gone, you’re not the same

In this wicked world of in-betweens
Fevers triggering the strangest dreams
They happen all the time
So stay for one more night

I’ll sing you to sleep

A Broken Record

From the outside looking in
the engines breaking, your records on the floor

In the morning once again
neighbors called, your brother stood tall
he never did understand

How the shadows hide
i plain sight, under their eyes, in the back of smiles

From the outside looking in
the engines breaking, your records on the floor

Oh honey how could I have ever known
every moment is another battle lost
most days it’s all you’ve got
your thoughts in circles

Am I the only one?
When all the lights are gone?
Am I the only one?

If I ask you will you tell
how many times you have hoped for death?

Wrinkles

I don’t know if I really do believe
that my love will remain through all the years

In my dreams you’re standing there, beside me, where the light’s always on

Gathered wood and dust, faces on the walls, looking back at us, after it all

Gone the days, no more nights
Warm and settled in your arms
we’re floating with the end of sight

And when it’s dark
I’ll sing you the song, that I can’t remember the words to
all those years ago

WAVES

A line on the water, thread of silvery beams
Below, watch it crumble, rippling through the open sea

I wait for the morning, golden glimmer of day
I wait for the falling of the waters once again
for the waters once again

The blue of the ocean could not ever fool me
beyond the stillness there’s a darkness we can’t see

Summer has come and gone too quickly for my taste
How I wish that the sun could feel like more than just a blaze

The light from the tower has been fading through the years
a once shining beacon, then a flicker, now a dream
even it will disappear

A line on the water, would you ever believe
they say nothing fits our bodies better than the sea
nothing better than the sea

Flying Saucers

Every Sunday night’s the same
the day we can’t shake off
and as we hoped for some exciting change
we heard the loudest bomb

I tried to call as soon as I found out
but all the lines were jammed
and so I thought it best to go back to making my dinner plans
making my dinner plans

There could be, flying saucers in the sky
a thousand planes ahead
as long as they don’t feel too close we can
pretend that they’re not there

We are good people
we could really care
with time, this feeling’s turned into a deep despair
Every Sunday night’s the same
so we say our prayers

There could be, flying saucers in the sky
a thousand planes ahead
a raging fire burning everything
everyone in their bed
and for a minute we would stop and weep
think of the world in shreds
but soon enough these thoughts dissolve back to
a simple itch instead

Every Sunday night’s the same

Revolvers

Lost between the signs
It happens all the time
driving in the night
flickering lights

I tore the curtains down
I sunk into the ground
I swam the ocean wide
I drank it up I spat it out

Hoping for the worst to happen
send it crashing down
For clouds to burst, the sun to blacken
Tear me up inside
wear me down and hang me out to dry

Lay down all your weapons love
there’s no battle raging
what good would revolvers do
when everybody’s changing
the city streets are getting small
and we’re just getting older
I’m tired of putting up a fight
I’d rather leave it all behind

It’s all over now

Wide Awake

One more from the top
wake up to this sad dream
watch as things slip through the world unsupervised
I don’t know anything at all

Wish I could disappear into this song
once I thought I would change it all

Dead End

I walk in the black of night / the streetlights above my house no longer shine / I walk into the dark

I watch as fish come through my door / swimming out my window / and the world slides through my head like water

I walk in the black of night / she’s there, lady of the light / look around, she’s on every corner 

The stray dog never bites / I look straight into his eyes / and the world slides through my head like water 

Three stars shining / light the borders

Fossilized

Another summer that lingered into fall / a drop of water makes an ocean of it all / and then it disappears / and I am on an island / sailors should be wary of the storm 

Stay out of sight / we’re fossilized/ we’ll be alright / if only for a while

I called on Poseidon / I searched for all his sons / and if I could blind them / we’d watch them fall / so let the rivers flood / and all the cities drown / I hope they never dry

Stay out of sight / we’re fossilized / we’ll be alright / if only for a while

Spiderwebs 

Feels like the end of it all / words seem to stumble then to fall / won’t somebody please find the lights, take me home?

Lying in bed / I know the spiderwebs above me / will soon cover me / cover every wall and corner of this room 

Is this the end of it all? / Words seem to echo, threads dissolve / I can’t help but wonder, will they ever hold?

No finish line / I run until my legs fall off / until my lungs explode / and I will close my eyes, pretend to sleep for now

The Good Soldier

Assemble on the firing line / stand with your head held high / in a world with no heaven all is farewell / say your goodbyes / and maybe someday I’ll make you mine

The flames burn well into the night / our curtains leak no light / in the morning you’ll see there won’t be a sign / stay close behind / and maybe someday I’ll make you mine

And I, like so many more / have been through this before / I believed all the songs then I let them go / so say your goodbyes / and maybe someday I’ll make you mine

Lights Out 

Lights out / we waited for the sound / of footsteps on a loosened tile every night / we were only children then, barely grown-ups now / they were only children all their lives

Blue sky / reflections of the light / and when it rains it’s only spit from above / on the hunt for the little lies of time / others will play other games all their lives

Lights out / and I can’t sleep at night / tell me stories of the deaf and the blind / we were only children then, barely grown-ups now / they were only children all their lives

I hoped I’d leave / not watch you grieve / and maybe someday you will know / maybe someday when I’m old / I, too, can see

Last Resort

Rushing down the hillside / past the empty streets / whose names I’ve never known / I’ve only walked them blindly / night and night

I reach the shoreline / it never will be mine / with every turn I’m losing sight of the ground
What did you think you’d find?

I reach the shoreline / it never will be mine / I see the shoreline / with every turn I’m losing ground

Hunting Season

I heard they were shot / their feathers were all that remained / and if they had sung / I know I would feel just the same 

But you, when you talk / I hang on to every word / I could write it all it’s true / I could sing it back to you / Oh honey I would do anything

Tonight in your arms / to die in your arms

How I wish I could be trapped inside a cave / like those poor boys on the news / would you come and save me too? / Oh honey I would do anything

To die in your arms / tonight in your arms
To die in your arms

Freediving

Out of breath / swimming in the deep end / I close my eyes / something’s changed again

Seven years / dreams lost upon waking / fallen leaves / floating silhouettes

Here we are / standing at the edge again / I think we’ve fallen out of time

There’s nobody there to see this

We dove in / blinded by the sunlight /turquoise waters lapping at the tiles / Let’s go back / stand before the edge again / do you know how I feel inside?

There’s nobody there to see this

Little Lies

Lately I don’t feel so tired it would seem / fall asleep every night only to dream / secret talks on dirty sidewalks / will this ever end? / evening walks leave me distraught / I know the feeling well

Little lies growing wild / little lies for tonight

The sun turns red / the earth is moving / it’s almost afternoon / and I cannot recall seeing the stars, only the moon

Little lies growing wild / little lies every night
Little lies growing wild / or am I out of my mind?