The title of this song comes from a poem by Austrian poet, Rainer Maria Rilke:
“Dying is strange and hard if it is not our death, but a death that takes us by storm, when we’ve ripened none within us"
I have my pictures of you
You don't look back at me
A smile I'd almost forgotten
Bruises I don't see
I’ll never forgive you for a sky
Turned from gray to black
Come out and kiss me, darling
I promise I'll kiss you back
A new head on my shoulder
(Her voice) a needle in my ear
Every kind word brings new pain
Instead of my eyes
Her reflection in the mirror
I have a sickness
I have a sickness
[I have a sickness, but I'm not the only one
Even in health, with their triumphs and their charms
In each other's arms, they're wasting away
Sickened just as I am and dripping with disease
A song comes from above
I look there's a tree and a small brown bird
Even the sparrows have built a nest
But we poor fools...) have built nothing
What a shame not to know that you're dying
Tell us we're dying, tell us we’re dead]
I have a sickness
The sparrows built a nest
My crippled, twisted body
Is swallowed by the earth
As my broken head finds rest
Dying Is Strange And Hard was written by Aaron Weiss.
mewithoutYou released Dying Is Strange And Hard on Sat Mar 17 2001.