Regarding Ascending the Stairs

[Verse 1]
I cannot think of that song with this music on
And I never want to go back to Arkansas
Even if you've gone from there
Even if you've gone

[Verse 2]
You handled me like an infant skull
And I cradled you like a newborn nightmare
And I always long, long to go back there
Straight back down the hallway
And up the stairs to that bed

[Verse 3]
I asked the deer, could the hunter she hear
Come a-creepin', creepin', creepin', creepin'?
I whispered in her ear so sweet and sincere
But she was already dead asleep in
The ground where she lay was red, sour and stained
And I kissed her, kissed her, kissed her before I turned away
And I never want to go back there
Down the path to the place where she lay

[Verse 4]
We can close our eyes and cry out to
The darkness that there is still this light in us
There is this fight to find right where we belong
This ribcage, it is a staircase, climb, climb it to my
Iris, you can live there, you know who I am
You know who I am
I am your apple

[Outro]
So open up the book and read to me your favorite passage
And know that I will be right here, and I will listen
I hear you, and I have heard you
For a thousand years