Quarantine

[Verse 1]

In the worst hour of the worst season

Of the worst year of a whole people

A man set out from the workhouse with his wife

He was walking, they were both walking north

And she was sick with famine fever and could not keep up

He lifted her and put her on his back

He walked like that west and west and north

Until at nightfall, under freezing stars, they arrived

[Verse 2]

In the morning, they were both found dead

Of cold, of hunger, of the toxins of a whole history

But her feet werе held against his breastbone

Thе last heat of his flesh was his last gift to her

[Chorus]

Let no love poem ever come to this threshold

There is no place here for the inexact

Praise of the easy graces and sensuality of the body

There is only time for this merciless inventory

[Verse 3]

Their death together in the winter of 1847

Also what they suffered, how they lived

And what there is between a man and woman

And in which darkness it can best be proved

[Chorus]

Let no love poem ever come to this threshold

There is no place here for the inexact

Praise of the easy graces and sensuality of the body

[Bridge]

Mm, mm

Mm, mm

Mm, mm

Mm, mm

[Outro]

In the worst hour of the worst season (Mm)

Of the worst year of a whole people (Mm)

A man set out from the workhouse with his wife (Mm, mm)

He was walking, they were walking north (Mm, mm)

North (Mm, mm)

North (Mm, mm)

North (Mm, mm)

North (Mm, mm)