[Intro] One iron note across the roofs Then the town pretends it slept [Verse 1] The sky went gray instead of holy The frost let go the coat and gate Somebody opened up a bakery Somebody laughed too loud, too late I stood in the kitchen with the tap on With the year still sitting in my mouth Waiting for the sound to rinse me The way a story said it would It rang. It rang. It did its job It told the living street to start It did not take the second roadway Out of the map inside my heart [Pre-Chorus] Not a failure of the metal Not a failure of the air A bell can wake a village It cannot make a night unhappen there [Chorus] The bell at morning didn’t save us It only told us we could speak The bell at morning didn’t save us It put the color back in the street If the corpse road still runs sideways Then daylight is a thinner sheet The bell at morning didn’t save us It just made the town look clean and neat [Verse 2] I thought All Saints would be a lid I thought a date could close a fist I thought a hymn in public language Could unwrite what the hush had kissed Instead I poured two cups of coffee And I drank from both of them The house stayed slightly wrong in temperature The peg stayed empty on the stem People said, you made it through People said, the worst is done People had not been the mouth That took the leftover of everyone [Pre-Chorus] Not a failure of the metal Not a failure of the dawn A bell is just a living instrument It does not know what we took on [Chorus] The bell at morning didn’t save us It only told us we could speak The bell at morning didn’t save us It put the color back in the street If the corpse road still runs sideways Then daylight is a thinner sheet The bell at morning didn’t save us It just made the town look clean and neat [Verse 3] I walked as far as the lychgate In the ordinary open light The roof looked smaller. The iron duller The mile looked almost polite That is the trick of morning weather It makes a custom look like myth Until you put your hand upon the stone And feel the night still in the grit I did not go the rest of the way I had already gone enough I turned back toward the living doors Carrying the same old stuff [Bridge] Save us is a children’s sentence Save us is a pretty ask What we needed was a witness And a way to do the task We had that We have this A town awake A road that stays A bell that rang And could not change The cost we paid [Breakdown] Ring Ring Then stop Ring Ring Then shop Day Talk Bread Debt The night Is in us yet [Verse 4] So this is the last I will tell it Then I will put the tin away Black salt. Pins. Coin. Cloth. Apple The inventory of the day If October comes next year I will meet it at the gate I will pay what I can carry I will not confuse the bell with fate You can have your pretty morning You can have your public hymn I am still on that road And I am still made of them [Chorus] The bell at morning didn’t save us It only told us we could speak The bell at morning didn’t save us It put the color back in the street If the corpse road still runs sideways Then daylight is a thinner sheet The bell at morning didn’t save us It just made the town look clean and neat [Final Chorus] The bell at morning didn’t save us I can live with that and stay The bell at morning didn’t save us I still put my boots on anyway If you hear it and you feel nothing You were lucky. You were late The bell at morning didn’t save us It only opened up the gate [Outro] Note gone Street loud House cold Head bowed Then up Then work Then the year Again The bell at morning didn’t save us And that is the end
