[Intro] Lay the cloth Lay it straight Don't you look At her face [Verse 1] She found me by the lychgate With my coat still full of rain She did not say good evening She did not give me her name She said, you eat what we cannot You take the part that stains the house You put it down your throat tonight And you do not speak it out I told her I don't work for stories I told her I get paid in full She nodded at the linen Like the linen was the rule [Pre-Chorus] Not in the church Not in the street Not where a living hand can count On the cloth On the chest That is how the debt comes out [Chorus] She paid me on the shroud Coin by coin on the white She paid me on the shroud So the house could sleep at night I took the bread. I took the silver I took the thing she could not say She paid me on the shroud And I carried it away [Verse 2] The room smelled like burnt sugar And a year that went too long They had washed him for the morning They had practiced looking strong She put the plate upon his body Like a table set for two She tore the loaf with both her hands And she watched me till I chewed Every swallow had a temperature Every swallow had a name I felt the kitchen in my teeth I felt the argument remain [Pre-Chorus] Not in the church Not in the street Not where the neighbors learn the sum On the cloth On the chest That is how the work is done [Chorus] She paid me on the shroud Coin by coin on the white She paid me on the shroud So the house could sleep at night I took the bread. I took the silver I took the thing she could not say She paid me on the shroud And I carried it away [Verse 3] I asked her what I bought her With the metal on the seam She said, a winter with no knocking She said, a clean mouth in my dream She said, he kept a second ledger Under the floor beside the stove She said, if I repeat a number Then the road will not stay closed I did not ask to see the paper I did not ask to see the stain A man who eats another life Does not get to stay unclaimed [Bridge] This is not mercy This is trade This is a woman buying quiet With a loaf and a blade of pain I am not holy I am hired I am the throat that takes the year So she can button up her black dress And walk back to the living street [Breakdown] Eat Swallow Don't you taste it Eat Swallow Don't you waste it If it sits upon the linen It is yours now It is paid [Verse 4] I left before the bell started I left the coins in my coat The bread sat heavy as a gravestone Pressed against my throat Down the corpse road I kept chewing Like the night could be undone Every step I took from that house Tasted older than the one And I knew the old arrangement Why they call a man like me Not a priest and not a neighbor Just a mouth they need to feed [Chorus] She paid me on the shroud Coin by coin on the white She paid me on the shroud So the house could sleep at night I took the bread. I took the silver I took the thing she could not say She paid me on the shroud And I carried it away [Final Chorus] She paid me on the shroud And she did not watch me go She paid me on the shroud With a hand that did not shake no more If you meet me on the dead mile And I will not meet your eye I have somebody's October Sitting black behind my teeth tonight [Outro] Cloth folded Plate empty House quiet Road ready She paid me on the shroud And the year went into me
