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!