F#m                             E
Winter solstice, the earth open wide
                                       F#m
with a heart crushed like footsteps in snow
                                    E
(((fictitious persons disclaimers implied
                                 F#m
to all listening from rooftops below)))
                                   E
it had rained and the air was like perfume outside
                   A G#m C#m
as the sky changed

F#m                                E
we began when the ground was still dry
                                         F#m
planting vineyards where vineyards don’t grow
                                   E
shaping cypress with pitch on both sides
                                       F#m
for the nights when our trumpets won’t blow
                                      E
that regret still there circling like vultures inside
                     A G#m C#m
as your face changed?
                        E
They don’t stay inside.
(there but for Thy grace go I...)

A                     C#m                         F#m
through the eyes of machines we viewed immaculate scenes
         C#m
that had already passed me by
A                    C#m                       F#m
all the stars on the ground, Noah’s ark in the clouds
    C#m
set sail in the flood of my mind,
A                 C#m                    F#m
the other animals drowned in blasphemous towns
    C#m
and asked as they passed me by
A               C#m                 F#m    C#m
“was to do as I please a European disease?”

F#m                             E
Winter solstice, the earth open wide
                                         F#m
with a mouth closed and face carved like stone
                                    E
dressed the dawn in the air drawn designs
                                  F#m
as the sounds rose in waveforms unknown
                                  E
and you smile but your vampire complexion still shows
                 A G#m C#m
so the past goes.

F#m                                  E
August 3rd, all the earth had closed down,
                                      F#m
so with breastplates of righteousness low
                                       E
searched for streams in the caves underground
                                   F#m
where the Baptists and bootleggers go
                                   E
when the sun hits Deer Flat your reflection still shows
                    A G#m C#m
and your past shows.
                     E
It’s really all that shows
(so often unrecognizably so)

A                 C#m                           F#m
We gave up on our dreams for those projected on screens
         C#m
that had already passed me by
A                      C#m                       F#m
with further suffering found in our insufferable sounds
        C#m
and the thought in the back of my mind:
A               C#m                 F#m
“does my misery feed a metaphysical need
       C#m
that’s long since passed me by,
A                C#m
neither reasoning why
               F#m   C#m
nor offering reply?”