Untwound

[Intro close mic gravel burr dim room] Some mornings come up hard as metal Smoke and pennies on my tongue Then some sweetness slips in sideways And I know where I was once from [Verse low pocket worn soul no rush] There you were by the river bend White mark bright on your little nose Billy sat in his black glass shade Like a crow that already knows He said easy cowboy easy Some bites dont stay bit they bite back You just watched the water loosen Where the creek slid through the black You washed your paws and watched the reeds But morning near you widened out Like daylight had less use for need Bitter tea and slower breathing Shade that moved without demand I wore a mind I could not keep But I wore it there in that green land [Refrain first lift held back] Untwound Not forever just enough For birds to reach me through myself For one flower on the air To feel like love Untwound [Verse story told plain birds far] You told of a man who took the long road Same turn three times through his life First time young he called it empty Wanted the end more than the light Second time his head was crowded Clocks and noise and the need to arrive He cursed the bend and missed the whole thing Though the whole world was alive [Verse brighter memory butterfly scent rising] Third time before the rise and overlook A butterfly crossed through the blue Birdsong opened out of nowhere Like the trees had broken through Then some clean wild sweetness found him Not perfume not wine not shrine Just something blooming past his naming Something patient in the pine He stood there still as if the road Had been waiting all that while Not for luck and not for magic Just less hunger in his stride [Verse dry humor danger under beauty] Wild tobacco by the river Dandelions in the breeze Billy knew a cat from El Paso Passed him Tex Mex tobacco leaves Swore his life was over after So even Billy let it be You said that stuff might kill a puppet Funny what still called to me [Bridge daily rhythm firm and simple] Morning was a cup and breathing Afternoon some little task Evening gold along the slow bank And wanting less than I had asked No grand cure and no clean promise No bright crown to carry home Just a way the day could loosen Just a way to leave things alone [Verse later voice cracks open] I know now what lived inside it More than I did living through How the whole hard world came singing When I got still enough with you I did not know that was the mercy Did not know enough to know What was reaching me that season While it still was warm and low [Final refrain full chest soul lift ragged rising] Untwound For a little while with you The long way home turned beautiful And so did I with you Untwound Birdsong breaking through my blood Bloom on the wind blue on blue I was more than all my wanting By that water there with you Untwound I did not keep that weather long But it ran me through and through And every better thing that ever rose in me Rose by that river with you [Outro high afterglow then hush] Now when sweetness finds me sudden Through the static through the dust I dont call it back for saving I just call it good and trust Wild tobacco by the river Dandelions in the blue Somewhere in me still that footpath Still that morning still with you