Tuesday, February 22, 2011

In The Masks We Burry Ourselves

Bury Your Flames

Oh, we could blame it on our hands

They lifted the drink to our mouths so we drank it

Or we could blame it on our bodies

They say, we like the way we feel when we get touched

You've got your fingers snared in my veins

I think it's time you pulled them out

And I don't care about the flesh it'll tear

It isn't flesh that I'm worried about

We held a match to keep our sight on the path

But the flame gave up and we lost it

And I've knelt for the last three years

Trying to find it back with the blackened matchstick

Today I'm not afraid of failure

The past is a flower

The future, the snow

I wasn't ever close to perfect

But I never let you go

You let your doubt lead you like a river on and on

And you will never get back to save what you had

Hear me promise

I will bury your problems in me

So sleep soundly

I held your heart in my fingers

Now it's gone, it's gone, it's gone and you will never admit

That you bid the wind blow the flames out

And buried the coals in the sea

You tricked me

You came back and you brought floods

Wearing a necklace made of hearts that you'd dragged through the mud

And I guess I wasn't quite sure what to say to you

But then I saw mine, almost reached out to grab it

Said, darling, you're the only one on earth I want to have it

But now I'm not so sure that was true

After the hell you put it through

But there was no sharp pain this time

Just the ghost of your presence compressing my chest like a vine

An unshakable absence

Like most of my insides crawled out of my mouth and went west

But that's fine

We cast our hearts in plaster

We imagined our bodies were fashioned of stone

But they chipped at the brick and mortar

We found out that we're only layers of skin hiding bones

And our bones are like chains, old and rusted in the rain

They're going to snap when the weight shifts

You moved like a fire through the forest

Your hands were as red as the skin on your lips

You'd been flirting with distance, princess

I tasted its spit in your kiss

Oh mistress, know

Today I will bury the flames of your failure

The past is a liar

The future, a whore

I'll lay your bones into the earth and you will haunt my head no more

Oh, we could blame it on our hands

Oh, we could blame it on our hands

But it was our mouths that opened up to swallow

(Oh, we could blame it on our hands)

And our heads that commanded us drink

But as I buried your flames in the dirt

I watched the smoke pull your ghost from the grave

And I fear they'll only lay in wait

Until we are face to face again

Just when I said, I'm moving, I'm moving on

I felt them come to life again and again and again and again

There are fires

That tear through valleys and make dust from grass

There are fires

There are wires

Bound in blue light, they pull us to the past

There are wires

We are tired

We should have known from the start that this wouldn't last

We are tired

Tuesday, February 8, 2011