[Verse 1] We stood in a line that did not shuffle We stood in a dark that did not play Coats buttoned. Hands empty Like the night had taken names Somebody's brother had the lantern Somebody's wife had the cloth Somebody's child had been told To stay home and lock the latch The corpse road took us by the shoulder And it did not ask who led The rule was older than the village And it sat on every head [Pre-Chorus] If you speak, you make it stay If you leave, you make it worse Hold the hour in your mouth Hold the body of the year [Chorus] Nobody talked, nobody left That is how the mile gets done Nobody talked, nobody left Till the gate took back the one If grief is just a kind of weather Then weather still can break a chest Nobody talked, nobody left And that was the bravest we got [Verse 2] I wanted to say I saw him moving I wanted to say the box was light I wanted to say the August cold Had followed us into the night I swallowed all of it like black salt I kept my boots inside the track I watched the lantern make a circle And I did not give it back A cough rose up and died of manners A branch cracked and no one turned Even the man who loved him hardest Kept the fire in his throat unburned [Pre-Chorus] If you speak, you make it stay If you leave, you split the line The dead can take a lot of things They cannot take a clean design [Chorus] Nobody talked, nobody left That is how the mile gets done Nobody talked, nobody left Till the gate took back the one If grief is just a kind of weather Then weather still can break a chest Nobody talked, nobody left And that was the bravest we got [Verse 3] At the lychgate we paused under iron Rain held off like it had been paid The widow looked at no one living And no one living looked away Then the road opened after And the town fell behind our heels I understood why they built it Out of sight of the ordinary fields If a person said I miss him In the middle of that black The whole procession would have folded And we would have brought him back [Bridge] Silence is not the same as peace Silence is a tool and a tax Silence is the only vehicle That can carry what we packed I did not feel holy I felt used I felt useful I felt true I felt the year go down the dirt Without needing me to prove [Breakdown] Don't Don't Don't you start Don't Don't Don't you part Mouth shut Feet set Pay the dark Its quiet debt [Verse 4] When it finished we came home separate Every house took back its own Somebody put a kettle on Somebody sat there like a stone I unlocked my door and listened To the rooms that went cold in heat And I did not call a single name Because the rule still had its teeth In the morning people spoke again About work and bread and rain As if the night had been a hallway We all walked and left the same [Chorus] Nobody talked, nobody left That is how the mile gets done Nobody talked, nobody left Till the gate took back the one If grief is just a kind of weather Then weather still can break a chest Nobody talked, nobody left And that was the bravest we got [Final Chorus] Nobody talked, nobody left I can still hear that kind of hush Nobody talked, nobody left It did more than any speech could touch If you meet me on the corpse road Do not ask me how I kept My place inside the line Nobody talked Nobody left [Outro] Lantern out Coats off Town back Rule off For now For now Until next
