After The Harvest

Through days like empty fields after the harvest This ache where the heart is Like a tree that's bare, 'neath a sky that's starless Like something out of place Feel all used up, feel tarnished Like smudged eyeliner, chipped nail varnish Like something scarcely visible garnished With a face Think I might be done with this final strawness This pick-your-heart-back-up off the floorness This less that's certainly not moreness This bitter aftertaste This rotten right down to the coreness This beat your fists on the doorness This myness, this yourness Well, in any case I know that love is bigger Than this dumb day to day And I see its shining figure Fighting for scraps, out in the melee Tell me, I got this turned around the wrong way Tell me, I got it mixed up in my head Feels like I'm left here standing on the runway A fleeting thought that barely registers So imagine gazing up Into the great dispassionate eyes that observe us Head slightly tilted to one side, the way a bird does Staring quizzically At all our silly little lies, our absurd loves Our scratching at the surface Clowns throwing custard pies in the circus Of our vanity And I know that love is bigger Than this grim day to day Well, I see its shining figure Fighting for scraps, out in the melee And maybe I should know better Than to take it personally When the hand that wrote the love letter Decides to write you out the story Maybe I got this turned around the wrong way Could be I got it mixed up in my head Feels like I'm left here standing on the runway A fleeting thought that barely registers So now the moment of truth is finally upon us Take a look in my eyes, see how much I want this As I stand here, astonished Scraping off the filth Cutting away this stifling bodice Underneath a brand-new skin like a goddess Words forming on my lips like a promise To myself I know that love is bigger Than this dumb day to day I watch its shining figure Fighting for scraps, out in the melee