Subtle Love

Brighter than the Blues Got to leave this house, go swiftly out I've been lying around till noon Till the fear comes on That I might have fallen Honey, I think of you. The winter's calling loudly now I believe it'll be here soon And it won't be kind, It'll rule me with shadows Turning my gold to blue. Go away, go away you poison loves For you I have no use I can sleep alone Many a night I've gone Never to think of you. Well, the leaves have fallen The season's passed I'll go west, or someplace new Where the lights are low So the stars can glow Brighter than the blues. Stay on My Shore Stay on my shore And don't desert me And if you go The wind will blow you back to me And if your boat is broken out on the rocks It wasn't anger, but a longing. We feed the birds Syrup and seed So they stay near, So we can see Flashing red and blue amid the green When the fruit has long since rotten. Rolled in the needles and wrecked our skin Gave it all to be empty Wrapped in leaves wet and clinging In wreathes so holy You split the cord, The cedar and holly And lie indoors Let the smoke do the cleaning And sweeten our skin with the salt and the stone Lace the pages of our story. Over and Even We sight the mornings softly Take to them easy The scent of the wood and coffee Our cup is filling. Outside the river flows Its course unfolding A strength it never knows A sweet outpouring. The scents that bloom the hours, I write you daily I speak of friends and brothers And sisters waiting To sew your winter coat To keep you warm and dry The size of you to hold Tender knots are tied And over and over, And over and even How can the stars design it To pull and move us? We crave their waning light, An ancient . And draped in candlelight We did outshine it I miss your scent and sight How can I write this? And over and over, And over and even Not Over By Half You've torn your shirt You've outgrown this town Your friends are all scattered and you're lonesome But you're still searching for music in the sounds It's a tame world would leave you unbroken. Oh lady, oh Mother, bring your garden to me Pull it around my body so the world cannot see The blue of my veins and the tracks on my cheeks But leave the tulips for when I go under. But it's not over by half There's a gold in your eyes blooming out through the black And you're still standing, your hand on the map No it's not over, not over by half When that day comes and the lights go dim The weight off your shoulders, the sun off your skin And the ones who have known you, Your lovers and friends, Will be marked by the spark that was taken. Here on the mountain I'm thinking of you The birds are all singing, screaming of youth And here I am holding, keeping a room Just a place you can lay when you're older. Ariadne's Gone Lay down beside me I want you to touch me I know we're not friendly that way. I walk the sands Where your temple still stands Now you've gone where you wanted to go. I'm looking for signs of her Left from your time with her Proof that you've needed a woman. Here on the land where she promised to stay At your command, 'cause you want it that way And she's plastic. Love changes hands He wears stars on his skin And he's tall as your columns of marble He says come take my hand now I want you to stand now For some things are greater than fiction. I'll write my poems and letters for this Pulled from the air are the words that you give If you're willing. Here give your hand to me Come near and be with me Friend, won't you stay here a while? Friend, won't you stay here a while? No More Shelter Pull up the horses And carry me back behind the lines Back to the water, Back with the gardens and the vines Where two hands of ashen gold Chase down my fever And wash me with soap When half of us were losing And half of us were wrong, A rose you planted. Leather and rope, Fire inside the rock The heavens open I am like a child on the spot Asking god why'd you come? Was it all for some glory, Was it all for a song? And my eyes are still searching For a light in the fog A sweetheart to sing for me I was thrown from the center Where I once so bravely spun I was pulled through the colors Through the colors did I run And my eyes were wide and gleaming, Though wind-whipped by the storm There is no more shelter for the broken I hear they still track me now Dogs try to sniff out my home I'll write you in the scars Laid in trails by the jets headed home How you mold me and move me still I'm calling on your memory here alone in my cell A time when you fed me, a time I was filled But one of us must keep from crying. Easy Now Easy now, It's almost over The fever will run out Now the nights are colder Who will lift your face to see how the stars Shine brighter when you're lonely? The rains came down Ran across the river Sweet the sound And the scent familiar You pulled the clothes from the line and came in You were needed at my side. In the open my heart beats loudly We're not broken, no we just are free again Again Easy now, It's almost over To the friends who stuck around Go and hold them closer The ones that watched you wander out on the rocks When the light of day was fading. In the open our hearts beat loudly We're not broken no we just are free again Again Lure and Line Lure and line Lure and line Loom of white Hooks and winds Pulled down now from the ether Laid before our open eyes Lure and line Lure and line Lure and line Lure and line Jenny come in Heat of the city, a breeze cross his forehead His hand on the windowsill rests Waiting to hear it, her feet on the porch steps Jenny come in, he says under his breath. He says that two can make more than two He says that two can push out the ghosts He says I'm haunted by somebody lonely I hear the voice at night when you're gone Saying You know what I'd do if I were you? Break down the door and go after her running And when she returns the things that she's borrowed Coming to see what was made and what broke Guilty, his eyes unraveled The thread at her hem and the pearls at her throat. Under the swaying, the floorboards are creaking There's sweat down his new cotton clothes While a song in the next room is playing A voice from the radio calls Saying, You know what I'd do if I were you? Break down the door and go after her running You know what I'd do if I were you? Set fire to the cords that bind you in longing Jenny come in, there's food on the table And though it is small, a bed that is clean Music for playing and hands that are able To hold a woman who's warm but mean. Wine and Honey Wine and honey There'll be no more Sundays to confess and pray. O rake, o wanderer Did silence awaken a hunger in you? When all the world was breaking You sat there just humming something you made. When like it or not, I am already home I like when it rains but I'm unfriendly And like it or not this whole world is full and hungry. Light my room My words with fuel laid kindly for me Grown from the vines That watched us in silence, suffering For wine and honey, The sight of the stars buzzing. My Only Trouble Once we stretched out so fair My hand here, your mouth there As the fog stepped around us There was hay in your hair. And the salt of our skin Brined the clay there within It was mine that would harden And then cease to bend. When my only trouble When my only trouble When my only trouble Is you. Now I stand at the wood Where the wind bends the pines And the place where you loved me Wears the mark of our spines. But when spring still shows Brings the tulip and the rose Well, then no one will pity A girl in the throes. When my only trouble... Now I won't scorn the god Who had thickened the fog, He's the one that brings the thunder When that's all I've got. When my only trouble... Subtle Love Lost in memories that in your bed you found Grass lay bent in warmth you gathered around Your every dream the oceans heave Unto the shore, they form and feed. It's a subtle kind of love, Its a simple kind of glory By paved edge I saw you standing down In the purple light the flag there on the ground To be rocked and cradled by failed hands Wounds where flesh is torn and mends. It's a subtle kind of love, Its a simple kind of glory The day has scattered the light across you mouth Keep your words but lend me your warmth a while Then here I'll leave you here I'll go And no one follows so no one knows. It's a subtle kind of love, Its a simple kind of glory It's a mother's wet tongue, It's a melody outpouring