If I were tossed like Cynthia
Upon the neck of every flying angel
Sad and black against
The clean and crying north
I would do anything you asked of me
Arrange your dying peonies
And bury your philosophy
Your melancholy sunny sea
And if I moved below the ground
My fingers dry and oh so loud
I'd bleed from every thorn before
I'd let a single roof fall down
And if the dusty sorrow had been spent
I'd build a cradle
Green and sturdy from my body
And the sounds that make the nothing burn away
There is a face inside your face
Which nobody but me has ever seen
It sparks to life inside the light
When you turn round
But now you're hiding all your hymnal leaves
And riding very carefully
And growing like a symphony
And wondering what to ask of me
Among the shells beside the sea
The bones of birds and old birch trees
Protected by my jealousy
And grasping oh so greedily
Sweet freedom is your enemy
And I hear you crying down your throat
Sister there's such a long way to go
Now your spirits are all asleep
But I was born to live inside you
I have wings and hands to hide you
Never need to look before you leap
I trusted in your honesty
I felt a rush of sympathy
I blamed it on my misery
And begged you to enamor me
But I am not what you assumed
I watch the sickly garden bloom
And I'm no man inside the moon
With lightning carving out my tomb
For me to lay inside, at rest
With crystal skies and uncut grass
And all my brothers spinning round so fast
I'll love them 'til I'm still at last
And I hear you crying down your throat
Sister there's such a long way to go
Now your spirits are all asleep
But I was born to live inside you
I have wings and hands to hide you
Never need to look before you leap
Now that your spirits are all asleep