[Verse 1] The plate was meant to finish it The loaf was meant to close the year She paid me on the shroud in silver And I swallowed what she could not bear I thought a working mouth could end it I thought a custom had a rim Then the night sat down beside me And it asked me back again Not in the house. Out on the mile Where the second roadway keeps A hunger that is not a stomach A hunger that belongs to grief [Pre-Chorus] Not meat Not feast Not a joke about the dead A duty A tax A thing you take so it will not spread [Chorus] One more bite off the body That is what the dark still said One more bite off the body Even after I was fed If I leave it, it will follow Up the living street instead One more bite off the body And then I can go to bed [Verse 2] I had the coins inside my coat I had the bread still in my throat I had done the kitchen portion I had earned the right to go But the corpse road does not tally The way a widow tallies debt It keeps a second appetite For the part you did not get The part that is not written The part that is not named The part that sits beside the linen After all the guests are claimed [Pre-Chorus] Not meat Not feast Not a carnival of sin A leftover A shadow Asking to be taken in [Chorus] One more bite off the body That is what the dark still said One more bite off the body Even after I was fed If I leave it, it will follow Up the living street instead One more bite off the body And then I can go to bed [Verse 3] I stood under the lychgate roof And I argued with the work I said I am not a grave I said I am not the dirt The iron answered with its weather The far field kept its pull A man who eats another life Does not get to stop at full So I took the last of what she offered In the only way I knew Not to keep him To keep the town From having to chew it too [Bridge] This is the ugliest kindness This is the oldest trade Somebody has to take the portion That would rot inside a name I am hired I am hollow I am useful I am paid One more bite Then I am empty In the ordinary way [Breakdown] One More Then none One More Then done Plate Cloth Road Tongue Take it Leave Go home [Verse 4] I came back with nothing holy I came back with nothing proud I rinsed my mouth with kitchen water I put the coins down and I sat down The house did not thank me The month did not receipt A custom is not salvation It is a way to keep the street If October still wants its due It already had my throat I will not make a second living Out of other people's ghosts [Chorus] One more bite off the body That is what the dark still said One more bite off the body Even after I was fed If I leave it, it will follow Up the living street instead One more bite off the body And then I can go to bed [Final Chorus] One more bite off the body I can still feel the ask One more bite off the body Then I set down the task If you meet me on that dead road Do not offer me a plate I already took the portion That would not wait [Outro] Loaf gone Coins counted Mouth clean enough Year mounted One more bite Then no Then no
