Near To The Ground

Yes, there we were on the floor of your room
Talking at length of your mother
Counting her scars like the rings of a tree
Tell stories of lightening and thunder

You couldn’t live on in that fallen world
No matter the love or the treasure
Both buried alive under ground and with time
That we count on our hands and by the weather

Whose spirits are these now speaking in tongues
On top of us all and each other?
Challenging sleep and the peace of our hearts
With a rage that might still pull us under

But drawn to the street by voices that live
Much nearer to ground than to heaven
We’ll gather around the fire next time
Heading back up where it came from

There’s light in the boats rocking here at the rails
Gone quiet and still with the evening
While voices wear on in the rooms up above
Brought lower with tenderness deepening

As here we are now looking out at the sea
On our knees as we call it in closer
Never too sure just how we will keep
Such a bird if it lands on our shoulder