Iron & Wine Album

To my dearest forsaken
Who the earth now has taken
Empty, the bottle drains no more

It is true that I loved you
Despite the harm that I own you
Wash out the river has you boy

Here on the eve of too long
Where you'll think i've done wrong
Waking in fear of you no more

I'll put my trust in the savior
Fielding forces of nature
Strength of the stump I tied you boy

To my dearest forsaken
Dearest vow I have broken
Afraid of your angry hands no more

I'll put my trust in the savior
River may help me later
Sleeping my lost love for you boy

Hard light, take the wings of the winter
Song bird, they were strong hands that held her
Miles above ground, we can’t see you now

Morning took the reins from the rider
Strong hands on the lap behind her
They tear her nightgown, we can’t see you now

Darling behave, though your boy is gone, or so we’ve heard
I feel you would rise if it was a song who’d say these words
Summer comes with its color all to take your breath away
Winter turns all the summer’s love to grey

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ah, ah, ah, ah

Darling behave, though the barnyard won’t say where he’s gone
I feel you would sing if the orchard let on what went wrong
Summer comes, yeah, as loud as hope and takes your breath away
Winter takes what the summer had to say

Curiosity far greater than the fear
It felt so simple, so prodigious, at the same time

Incredible things are happening in the world
Magical things are happening in the world

Across the river there’re all kinds of magical instruments
While we really keep on living like monkeys

“There’s no way to temper your thirst
With lasting impressions or pictures of home
There’s no way to grow that don’t hurt”
She growled from the station then hung up the phone

There’s no sacred vision like her
No eye-crushing mountain or jewelry to wear
There’s no granted wish I prefer
Then she to be with me, for us to be there

“I’d rather to be all alone
Forgiveness is fickle when trust is a chore
It’s not every sin that’s atoned”
I heard her speak softly then heard her no more

Dreamless sleep will fall like a deep, poisoned well
On the steeple birds and this red-light hotel

So lay your pistol down, Granny
The company men never came to you
But don’t unknit your brow, Granny
The mice in the yard ate the potted plants you grew

Pour your bitter tea for our sweet, liquored host
Perfect polished stones but this breeze beats you both

So lay your pistol down, Granny
The duty of men never fell to you
When you unknit your brow, Granny
Your friends, they are jewels, twice as beautiful and few

He kissed her once as she leaned on the windowsill
She'll never love him but knows that her father will
Her fallen fruit is all rotten in the middle
But her breast never dries when he's hungry

The money came and she died in her rocking chair
The window wide and the rain in her braided hair
A letter locked in the pattern of her knuckle
Like a hymn to the house she was making

Blind and whistling just around the corner
And there's a wind that is whispering something
Strong as hell but not hickory rooted

She kissed him once cause he gave her a cigarette
And turned around but he waits like a turned down bed
And summer left like her walking with another
And a sound of a church bell ringing

The money came and he died like a butterfly
A buried star in the haze of the city lights
A gun went off and a mother dropped her baby
On the blue feathered wing - we were lucky

Blind and whistling just around the corner
And there's a wind that is whispering something
Strong as hell but not hickory rooted

I asked you a question
I didn't need you to reply
Is it getting heavy?
And then realize
It's getting heavy
Well I thought it was already as heavy as can be

Is it overwhelming
To use a crane to crush a fly?
It's a good time for Superman
To lift the sun into the sky
Cause it's getting heavy
Well I thought it was already as heavy as can be

Tell everybody
Waiting for Superman
That they should try to
Hold on the best they can
He hasn't dropped them, forgot them or anything
It's just too heavy for Superman to lift

“Take me again," she said, thinking of him
“To the pond with the swans and the swimming"
Far from his room the familiar perfume
How it left her aware she was naked

The lesson she learned when her memory serves
Is to marvel with love at the sunset
And walking away at the dark end of day
She will measure and break like a habit

Oh, how the rain sounds as loud as a lover’s words
And now and again she’s afraid when the sun returns

“Take me again,” she said, thinking of him
“I don’t care for this careful behavior”
A brush through her hair, children kissing upstairs
Keeps her up with her want for her savior

The sun on the sand, on her knees and her hands
As she begs for her fish from the water
But turned them away, she’s a whip and a slave
Given time she may find something better

Call your boys now that the table's set and shining
No one's seen any of them in many days
Call your boys they shut a buzzard on a Chrysler
And you still taste all that you swallowed before grace

And you'll forgive even the time they burned the hen house
And ran from you ran to the hills with burning hands

Setting sun framed in the doorway right behind you
Several chores, surely some lessons left to tell
Setting sun was in the hills and now before you
Set your boys each with their shining silverware

They'll bury you under the wood beside the carport
They'll bury you some neon stop along the way

Radio fuzz on the fence post by the pasture
Long ago Liza and you would dance all day
Now you lay buried, the stern and sacred father
And sacred earth under the billboard in the rain

For one last toast here's to the brave who went before us
Who died in vain, died in a movie for a dream

I am thinking it's a sign
That the freckles in our eyes
Are mirror images
And when we kiss they're perfectly aligned
And I have to speculate
That God Himself did make
Us into corresponding shapes
Like puzzle pieces from the clay
And true it may seem like a stretch
But it's thoughts like this that catch
My troubled head when you're away
When I am missing you to death
When you are out there on the road
For several weeks of shows
And when you scan the radio
I hope this song will guide you home

They will see us waving from such great heights
"Come down now" they'll say
But everything looks perfect from far away
"Come down now" but we'll stay

I've tried my best to leave
This all on your machine
But the persistent beat
It sounded thin upon listening
And that frankly will not fly
You'll hear the shrillest highs
And lowest lows with the windows down
When this is guiding you home

They will see us waving from such great heights
"Come down now" they'll say
But everything looks perfect from far away
"Come down now" but we'll stay

Talk of yesterday
And she will show her brothers
Photographed in callous clothes
Say tommorow
And she'll say, "Come find me on a beach
And there will be no moon."
But say today
And she will kiss your face
And maybe forget

Talk of yesterday
Like bargain shoe strings
She will kick the car and find her friends
Say tommorow
And then she'll describe
Some old communion cups and someone's coat
But say today
And she may look your way
And lead you home

Sunday morning, my Rebecca sleeping in with me again
There's a kid outside the church kicking a can
When the cedar branches twist she turns her collar to the wind
The weather can close the world within its hand

And my mother says Rebecca is as stubborn as they come
They both call to me with words I never knew
There's a bug inside the thimble, there's a band-aid on her thumb
And a pony in the river turning blue

They say, "Time may give you more than your poor bones could ever take"
My Rebecca says she never wants a boy
To be barefoot on the driveway as they wave and ride away
Then to run inside and curse the open door

I once gave to my Rebecca a belated promise ring
And she sold it to the waitress on a train
I may find her by the phone but with a fashion magazine
She may kiss me when her girlfriends leave again

They say, "Time may give you more than your poor bones could ever take"
I think I could never love another girl
To be free atop a tree stump and to look the other way
While she shines my mother's imitation pearls

Sunday evening my Rebecca's lost a book she never read
And the moon already fell into the sea
Saw the statues of our fathers in the courthouse flower bed
Now they blend with all the lightning-tattered trees

They say, "Time may give you more than your poor bones could ever take"
My Rebecca said she knew I'd want a boy
A dollar for my boardwalk red balloon, to float away
She would earn a pocketful to buy me more

God made the automobile to pass all the pretty girls
The smoke by the side of the road, the blues lovin' boys in tow
To drive to the end of the day and bow to a borrowed flag
To ride all the brave and the blind, and men without men in mind

To pass all the things He made and then never bothered to name
And no one will tell the truth, and no one will hide it from you
Like birds around the grave

God made the automobile and I made a little boy
To pass on the blissfully young, the snake with a forked tongue
To praise on the wanting for time, and makes in the sleepless waves
The fear of the Black and the Jew, and blood for the camera crew

And passes the things He made and then never bothered to name
And no one can tell the truth, and no one can hide it from you
Like birds around the grave

Homeward, the new road meanders
Washed out, the old road asks, 'What did I bring?'
Flowers, a verse about springtime
Perchance, in the tree line, she's waiting for me

Homeward, these shoes worn to paper
Thin as the reason I left here so young
Homeward, and what if I see her
There in the doorway I walked away from?

White house asleep on the hillside
Firm as a habit I struggle to shed
Homeward with heaven above me
Old road behind me, door up ahead

Oh, I've just come from the land of the sun
From a war that must be won in the name of truth
With our soldiers so brave your freedom we will save
With our rifles and grenades and some help from God

I want to see my family
My wife and child are waiting for me
I've got to go home
I've been so alone, you see

You just can't believe the joy I did receive
When I finally got my leave and I was going home
Oh, I flew through the sky, my convictions could not lie
For my country I would die, and I will see it soon

When I walked through the door my wife she lay upon the floor
And with tears her eyes did soar, I did not know why
Then I looked into her hand and I saw the telegram
Said that I was a brave, brave man, but that I was dead

Midnight, and her eyes
Hide like kittens, new and wet
Mine are sinning hands
On her lying on my bed

The river still may rise
Wild and water take us both
Mine are sinning hands
Take our bodies, take our clothes

Bloodless moonlight, may my lady
Give her lovely skin and bones

Midnight, and my bride
Treads in distant water now
Mine are sinning hands
And my teeth have fallen out

The river still may rise
Though it took more than it gave
Mine are sinning hands
On a broken windowpane

Bloodless moonlight, like my lady
Gave me only skin and bones

Black dog bit through the keeper’s chain
Small and angry when the Devil came
Sold my soul like a pocket knife
There was no moon, there’ll be no milk as sweet

Tomcat curled on a rabbit cage
Brittle fingers in the potter’s clay
Sold my soul and I laid her down
There was no moon, there’ll be no milk as sweet

Blue bird laughs on a fallen tree
Sunset burns on a quiet sea
Sold my soul and they ran me down
There was no moon, there’ll be no milk as sweet

There's a woman hater with a broken record player
And a dusty compass off to map the country's new behavior
Strange words and we all roll back into the river
Brave boys in the empty coats of men

There's a kitchen timer, distractions and reminders
Rolly-pollies slowly crawling 'cross your family china
Strange words and we all roll back into the river
And dead dogs only want to live again

There's a serpent charmer, pair of shoes and wander
Speeding ticket you got leading that last lamb to slaughter
Strange words and we all roll back into the river
Good girls come and kick you in the shin

There's a hopeful hunter with a helpless sense of wonder
And a million claw marks on the rock he hid his money under
Strange words and we all roll back into the river
And made men only want to live again

The kettle burned 'cause I left it too long
And we were kissing with the radio on
The cat was choking on a rattlesnake bone
The town had gathered 'round the soldier boy carried home, carried home

The sick kids ate a bowl of red clay
And every summer day was ending in rain
The late judge teetered in a jon boat
The town had gathered 'round the soldier boy carried home, carried home

The broken window and the pretty blue sky
And cold water for my swollen black eye
We shook some money from your mother's old clothes
When all had gathered 'round the soldier boy carried home, carried home

Carried home, carried home (repeatedly)

Jenny was gone and the moon blooms all shining
As we dragged our panic up and down the riverbed
Sweating wild and weird in our Sunday clothes

Jenny was gone though I thought that I knew her
And the rain came howling out of Virginia
Blue tick blowing the water out her nose

Jenny and me in the front row and singing
About how heaven calls the kingdom of the animals
All and all revealed to us one day

Jenny and me on the hilltop and peeking
At all their upturned bottles jumping like leopards
Jaw harp teasing the brushfire in its rage

Jenny came back and the wet road still shining
In our eyes an angel clear and coronal
Clothed in all that's prodigal and strange

Jenny came back and I thought that I heard her
Murmur something about no men in Virginia
Spat on the ground like a letter tossed away

Jenny and me in my dead truck and turning over
Just where heaven calls the kingdom of the animals
Scratching our heads where the wolf would go to lay

Jenny and me as the moon blooms were closing
And both her wide-eyed brothers running like shepherds
Dreaming the heat of the fields all in flames

Mr. Henry and the muscle man, yeah, with shoes on a night there was no road to stand
Like a letter in a stolen purse, she was bored of her weight, she was bored of her words
The daughter of a soldier told the fallen priest "That's a cold, cold place in the arms of a thief"
And reaching out to touch the steering wheel she said, "Leave me alone but just don't leave me here, alright?"
Aye, alr-i-ght

Mr. Henry and another guy gave her gold on a night that it fell from the sky
And like a body when the buzzard came, she was bored of her look, she was bored of her name
The daughter of a lawyer told the fallen priest "That's a cold, cold place in the arms of a thief"
And tapping at the air with her heel she said, "Leave me alone but just don't leave me here, alright?"
Aye, alr-i-ght

Mr. Henry was a dying man with a vice and a tongue that she didn't understand
Like the water when the sea got rough, she was bored with the breeze, she was bored of her luck
The winner and the loser told the fallen priest "That's a cold, cold place in the arms of a thief"
And holding everything he made her steal she said, "Leave me alone but just don't leave me here, alright?"
Aye, alr-i-ght

Please, remember me
Happily
By the rosebush laughing
With bruises on my chin
The time when
We counted every black car passing
Your house beneath the hill
And up until
Someone caught us in the kitchen
With maps, a mountain range
A piggy bank
A vision too removed to mention
But

Please, remember me
Fondly
I heard from someone you're still pretty
And then
They went on to say
That the pearly gates
Had some eloquent graffiti
Like "We'll meet again"
And "Fuck the man"
And "Tell my mother not to worry"
And angels with their great
Handshakes
Were always done in such a hurry
And

Please, remember me
At Halloween
Making fools of all the neighbors
Our faces painted white
By midnight
We'd forgotten one another
And when the morning came
I was ashamed
Only now it seems so silly
That season left the world
And then returned
And now you're lit up by the city
So

Please, remember me
Mistakenly
In the window of the tallest tower
Calling passers-by
But much too high
To see the empty road at happy hour
Gleam and resonate
Just like the gates
Around the holy kingdom
With words like "Lost and found"
And "Don't look down"
And "Someone save Temptation"
And

Please, remember me
As in the dream
We had as rug-burn babies
Among the fallen trees
And fast asleep
Aside the lions and the ladies
That called you what you like
And even might
Give a gift for your behavior
A fleeting chance to see
A trapeze
Swing as high as any savior
But

Please, remember me
My misery
And how it lost me all I wanted
Those dogs that love the rain
And chasing trains
The colored birds above their running
In circles around the well
And where it spells
On the wall behind St. Peter
So bright with cinder gray
And spray paint
"Who the hell can see forever?"
And

Please, remember me
Seldomly
In the car behind the carnival
My hand between your knees
You turned from me
And said, "The trapeze act was wonderful
But never meant to last"
The clown that passed
Saw me just come up with anger
When it filled with circus dogs
The parking lot
Had an element of danger
So

Please, remember me
Finally
And all my uphill clawing
My dear
But if I make
The pearly gates
Do my best to make a drawing
Of God and Lucifer
A boy and girl
An angel kissing on a sinner
A monkey and a man
A marching band
All around the frightened trapeze swingers

Na-na
Na-na-na
Na-na
Na-na . . .