Absentee

One goodbye for everyone
Old pair of shoes the last place they were left
Out by the door where they always were kept
Brown laces

We stand in line to hear the news
We've not been together since Christmas last year
Room full of children all sad in the ear
Small faces

And church music playing, playing

Our parents sleep and sleep
They don't remember the ones they have left
We find the magazines under your bed
Strange pictures

I play out in the street
And trip on the sidewalk, all covered in blood
Tears aren't allowed, and I pick myself up
No stitches

And absentee, kyrie eleison!
Your memory, like disease, holds on
The fallow has grown out again
And all, all the fields are yellow

Your CDs, car keys, diaries
My family kept these secretly
And your memory, like disease, holds on
Absentee, kyrie eleison, eleison
Kyrie eleison!