Stay a little longer Linger till the sun’s gone Would that be Would that be so wrong? You wrapped yourself around me Threw out the map and claimed you’d found me But that ain’t What’s been going on Cause I’ve grown so used to you I can’t do half of what I used to do And the worst of it all Is I think you like me cobbled You got taller Gave me that look and I shrunk down smaller But small fits in your arms And if he gives more than he’s taking And you swear to yourself That your heart’s not aching What could be the harm? But I’ve grown so used to you I can’t do most of what I used to do And the worst of it all is I think you like me troubled Mama said she’d come and get me If I’d got you wrong They all said you’d cut and strip me Play me out like a one-chord song Ooh, do you remember how I used to stand so strong? Ooh, I should be leaving but the night is cold The night is cold and you’re still warm So stay a little longer Linger till the sun comes up Then I’ll know what I’ve got to do Peel away my own skin Heal the holes left within From where we filled me up With loving you You grew up inside of me And I ain’t half the person I used to be And the worst of it all Is I want one more night Pretending that this isn’t ending Mama said she’d come and get me If I’d got you wrong I’ll call her in the morning, tell her Mama I’m coming home Ooh, you cut and stripped me Overplayed me like a one chord song Ooh do you remember how I used to stand so strong?

I feel it in my belly Sick like a wyrm With a y for the sins That it did not deserve If you make the land good And the animals kind Then you’ve gotta warn somebody Before you change your mind And tell me it was tricks all along And everything I did was doing something wrong And the fruit is only bitter if you gorge it (you’re gorgeous) And the truth is better kept by the forest (kept it from us) I feel it ‘neath my skin And tire from its slitherin’ If you’ve a garden made of God Then why’d you let the Devil in? We were as two golden threads Crafting richest tapestry Now I cannot bear for the life of me For now we only bear in agony If you make the land good And the animals kind Then you’ve gotta warn somebody Before you change your mind And tell me the rules are a shifting sea And you laid traps you knew would catch me And the fruit is only bitter if you’re sinning (who put sin in?) And the game is ever built by those yet winning When your belly’s round with the pain that’s coming And the ground is barren and the stream stops running And the man you love mixes scorn with loving Remember me and the apple tree: Even Eve in Eden was deceived If you’ve a garden made of God then why’d you put the Devil in? If you’ve a garden made by God then why’d you put the Devil in?

It’s so cold and darkening here As the winter solstice nears And I have all the hopes and fears Of any young woman living That God, to such a girl, Sent some post-boy archangel Saying: "Bear my son into this world" And we choose to call it giving To raise a son born to die And never comprehend quite why For gods and men are built to lie And keep things from their mothers If I had me seven sons - And I don’t even want for one - I would not have their will be done And writ out by some other (When upon the calgary cross Did you look down and see her loss? Or only that the game was done The kingdom saved for half a son) Oh, Mary, Mary mine Married young, made divine Blessed dust that cannot rest Pray for us at the hour of our deaths “God you may be, but still you chose And upon me your will imposed To dress me up in indicum clothes And feed me bread and fishes” This I think I hear her say Though she’s been dead many a day And has no learned right or way To convey her wishes (Can you hear her knock at the door? Many came after, many before Don’t you think in the world of men The same sad shit happens again and again) Many halls of grey-faced men Who lived between these times and then Decided with their inky pens Who she must have been Take her face and make it white, Say her name to make you right, With each repeat she’s spared the night: Miriam the Nazarene Miriam the Nazarene (Go on and make her some kind of Madonna The only way you know how to honour A woman who never knew of you Would rather you never knew of her too) Oh, Mary, Mary mine Married young, made divine Blessed dust that cannot rest Pray for us at the hour of our deaths When the sun is at its least And we sit down to drink and feast I can toast no special peace To those who chose and claimed her We cannot rewrite the past And if we could, it wouldn’t last For what’s been writ already’s cast In gold, and stone, and silver Take your mighty plans elsewhere And do not dress them up as care When it is young women who bear The weight of what you please When I am cold, and I am low, I have no higher place to go For all of faith is written so Men may feel at ease So men may feel at ease (Bound I be beside these three: Mary, Eve, Persephone For ever shall a woman be So men may feel at ease So men may feel at ease) Oh, Mary, Mary mine Married young, made divine Blessed dust that cannot rest Pray for us at the hour of our deaths Oh, Mary, Mary mine Married young, made divine Blessed dust that cannot rest Pray for us at the hour of our deaths

Oh Persephone, where did you want to be? They’ve gone and got you eating fruit again And let the berries stain your lips red Staining’s claiming, so the men said Fed up to fat and locked away, Ripe and ready for bed Well other women took their bloody knives out Killed their sons for tongues and drowned in weeping If I turn to you, you shake your head ‘It only leaves a bigger mess,’ you said ‘Let him love me till we’re sleeping, For sleeping’s almost dead’ Mother in blue, hands made of dying flowers Came for you, but the bus ride took hours Stopped every place on the face of the world Picked up a flat tyre and a dozen sad girls Who folded their hands in their laps and stared ‘The fisherman’s coming, you best be prepared’ But your mother’s grown sick of waiting for men Told them, “Most sailors round here drown “ Two borrowed her sword and cut up their dresses Hopped off in the next two-bit town Trailing brown leaves she left at the final stop Stole a black Harley from a dirty cop Followed the salt and the sweet of your smell Drove on down to Hell Every man loves to meet his wife’s mother He welcomed her with cavalry and beaming Bowed down low to greet her ‘Charmed at your presence, noble Demeter’ No priest as sincere as the words that he said, And only the fruit was sweeter She played the guest for forty long nights Though the sun didn’t rise up to count them Then slipped a silver spoon and scooped out his eyes If he cannot see you, you need no disguise ‘Daughter, step from his dark hall into the light, You need no longer dance to his metre’ By then the trees of her arms were covered in snow But no rain, no ice, no hail fell below They had gone down where no living folk go And the walk back up out is much steeper The earth needs the relief only she can bring So its bowels let her loose to summon the spring She grew up the lilies and covered her head ‘I fought for my daughter, she lies with the dead’ Oh, Persephone, you stayed with damask hands You bathed his feet and took him to the river ‘Husband, mine, we better be quick The blood on the wall’s getting sticky and thick Come feed me wine and perfume my hair So oft, now, I’m tired and sick’ A babe born below will never know the sun Nor the breath of the wind or a lover Cover his eyes, they can’t stand the light Cover his skin, it’s so pale and white And bear him to Hades with trembling hands Praying that you have done right Queen of the dead, of the heroes and sinners Queen of the water flowing fast through the rivers Drink from the lines of his lips and his brow If he ever loved, know that he loves you now As he summons the berries to redden your skin Oh Persephone, promise me, you’re taking him in Winter comes quickly and the earth hardens above While your mother journeys down again to see you ‘So sweet was my child, now your eyes have grown hard, You’ve forgotten the flowers and the seas and the stars And your son never smiles and looks just like his sire You’ve broken a mother’s heart’ ‘I heard of a saviour, but he never came I heard of a devil, and I knew him by name I scooped out his eyes so that you could get free But you stay here and love him, and forget about me Bore him a son to inherit his crown Don’t you know the land dies every time I come around?’ Oh Persephone, you rose from your ivory throne Stood brighter than the sun and turned to face her ‘Mother, oh my mother, I know of such might When you fall in love with power there’s no need for wrong or right No angels here nor demons, just the shadows and my lord No living, no more dying, just the night’ Mothers, teach your children not to marry such men But they sweeten and they sicken and they fool you There’s something in the night that cannot be ignored There’s something in the darkness so easy to adore And there’s only bad decisions when you never got to choose And that’s why your daughters will lose

If I was an eagle I’d fly far from here But I am a hunting dog I wouldn’t care for much more Than the ground beneath my feet And the air, Oh if I could fly Oh if I knew the world was a Warm, safe place A place I’d leave you for But my mother said It’s a dark, cold land out there You don’t wanna hurt no more But I am not a bird I cannot fly I’m no longer young But I’ve got so long before I die If I knew there was a brighter land A land oh I’d leave you for But my mother’s words ring in my mind I don’t wanna hurt no more Beast Won't you just give me A rest from your hands? Beast Please just give me A minute to breathe I am a hunted dog I am a hunted dog I know you know I’d be nothing if I went away I don’t mind if you need to hurt me, as long as you stay I knew I could tame you Sometimes you cry late at night I know you don’t mean what you say I know you don’t mean what you say Oh if I could fly Someone once told me they could save me I asked, from what? I dream, I’m fed, I eat Oh if I was an eagle I’d go But the world is dark and cold And I am a hunting dog

I was driving in the dark: The rain, the road, dense with cars, The sky unlit, devoid of stars If all these signs were to fall down We would not know north from south But be stranded on the moor A caravan of strangers passing And as I drove I thought of this: If I were to fall here; it is inches away To burn and crumple, in a roaring blaze Of metal and petrol and fall and lie Into the verge and die, Soaked through In the grey headlight and fumes How many hours would it be Before my mother knew of me? She would, in time, in fear, call That man I have just left Who does not know me well at all And would not know my death Until the broken metal was brought in and read And my bones and clothes untangled from the unyielding dead And then the call would come so late, so late Trill around the country my fate So as I drive along this scar That cuts my country near in half Between the wilds and coast to roam Grey-ridged tail pointing home And the bright lights of my car Which block out the mangled map of stars Bring up the signs, which pass, in a line, time by time From where I was to where I’m going A to B along the road And across from me B to A lay out the way I will return when I forget, he knows me not, and will not stay, or else not yet - I think of death, and dying here, quick And in the lonely rain it seems so near - Death is not at the end of the line I portion out in fear He does not need to wait my portion of these rapid years He merely waits for some slip in my defenses Clutching all around held back by weak and tired senses If I cannot tell where the road will go or hear the coming truck He will have me: I survive this only through luck and timing My body is a violin Set with temperamental strings And thin wood to hold me into place: One wrong hit and I would break And I could never be restored I would make music nevermore For all the bowing in the world A violin is not a girl For all the longing of my heart You are not who I wish you are For all my knowledge of the road It will not bear me safely home But leave me in the dark alone, Un-tended to and furled (Babe, would you do that to a girl?)

Walk down through the fields with me This is where we were born And I belong to this land you belong to this land Through old and gentle law How many times Would you rot and waste with me? How many times would you Be a child again? Bury me in these chalk hills When I have to rest But climb up all these trees for me for you know I always loved the sky best Walk these golden fields with me Ripple them with your hand Breathe us in the wistful kindness of this Old and gentle land How many times Would you rot and waste with me? How many times Would you do it all again? Pack all your bags, move back home and move away And no one here and no one there least of all me expects you to stay But how many times- How many times would you- Walk down through these fields with me This is where we were born And we’ll be here again I know as sure as I know We’ve been here before (Oh and how many times Would you rot and waste with me? How many times if we could Do it all again? How many times would you Rot and waste with me? How many times if we could. Be a child again?)

I like looking at women - I like the slight of their face, I like the balls of their shoulders I like to watch women move Dance through the afternoon Throw swords and heave boulders I like the cut of their jib The pink of their lip The way they carry The weight that women carry I like the way that they speak Truth with their teeth Loving lies and strong commands And earthy feet and carving hands Carve this earth for me Then bear yourself back down Into obscurity The past was laid With most antipathy I like how women look When they’re watching me Don’t say you don’t like the same That’s a fool’s losing game And you can’t afford to be foolish Let the low light run through your hair Or shave your head bare However you choose it Don’t say we’re better alone I’d better go home We’re better than this When this is all there is This is what we were given to bear So I wove a home there In the bright of dying lands With bleeding feet and carving hands Carve this earth with me Then bear our souls back down Into obscurity The future lays Out with antipathy I like how women look When they’re watching me I like how women look When they’re watching me

I don’t want your babies, baby Please don’t take that personally If I was gonna have anybody’s But I work so hard to keep my body free Oh Mama, mama, no you can’t make me, I’ll be some 1950s Pa, cigar, briefcase and clean hands I just make the babies, baby I don’t gotta raise them up to be a man I don’t gotta bear them, birth them My hips won’t crack, my stomach won’t turn I don’t gotta bathe them, save them Teach them what they gotta learn To be a man, honey, to be a man And god forbid we made a girl This is what I gotta tell her To be a woman I don’t want your babies, baby Not for now or never, maybe There’s nothing modern about this scene Sat waiting for blood to tell me If I gotta bear them, bathe them Teach them what they gotta learn To be a wiser man now, honey Or try to be a woman

When you look at me In that low light I see the moons of your eyes Reflecting mine Across the bed sheets Well I know that sight When we’re dancing As lovers dance I feel we are known I’m the one that makes you laugh And makes you swear And moan Ooh, but I am jealous with it Catch my tense and teary tells I don’t wanna know How many others have known You so well I am pleased You like my body I believe you like my mind I try to be steady and unhasty I am sometimes unkind Ooh, I am jealous babe Of all we cannot do And anyone who, now though gone, Got to do it With you Sure I am of all my virtues Sure I am of their flaws Even as I enjoy All they taught you Still I resent that they were yours Ooh, I am green with it It is foolish and foul I tell my sticky palms The past does no harm Look: we are here now I know they’d look good on me And you’d like it, though you haven’t said But I won’t wear Someone else’s stockings To bed

Some rich old men regret things Like I care When I see so many young girls Who can’t walk for the weight of words You say, “I spent too much time working I don’t remember half my children’s names” No, I was watching, you were just jerking Some poor good woman’s chain Listen to the priest as he tells you You have sinned Cause you’re weeping freckles over a Bible But I know, I know you don’t believe him Don’t give up your bows and arrows for sewing machines Don’t give up your sewing machines for guns, boys

-With a sleep it begins: I am awakening The dawn, a shattered thing, is breaking Over shuttered eyes and crowded streets Full of crumpled buildings where people meet Amongst these people: you and I For I am in love, so when I sing of time I sing of you and our little lives Rounded, rounded See here: the gardens loved by Babylon And all that ever loved - but now are gone And all the roots of love those loves grew from And the mulch those roots became when their days were done The mountainside/the amber sun/the pines that line the river’s run/ wolfhound and stag/the forest deep/the moon, in love, that tugs the sea/ the snows that blow/the gales that shake/blue dragonfly low over the lake/ walking the bar strip late at night pulsing with neon light We are as much a part of earth as this So lie on the warm dirt and let the sunlight kiss Every inch of you that is made of life Anything so living cannot long survive For we are little more than passing shades Granted leave to dance but not to remain To taste the wine and poppy seeds And depart, as we started, with a sleep Amongst this wonder: you and me Bound and freed and found by temporality For by it we see the beauty of the lives we lead Rounded, rounded with a-

Does it please you to be thought of this way? As hewn-off granite or sculpted clay? It is the only way I find easy to say How bones are just stones in the remains of the day How love eternal inters all its promises in earth Smooths them over solemnly with velvet turf But if we are turf and earth and bird And day and night and dolerite Look! How we stand and stand and will not let go Not for any god or fate or pharaoh