Beneath the Rotting Willow

[Intro] [Verse 1] I came back to the bend Where the water worried stone My ghost moved through the reeds Like a bone dragged home My hands shook hard At the wound in the bark My breath wound inward Cutting rings through the dark [Pre-Chorus] The roots hold fast The mud won’t pray I hear my breathing Turn away [Chorus] Beneath the rotting willow Beneath the rotting willow I break, I break But still I move [Verse 2] There’s a crack in the trunk Like a mouth sewn blind Wet leaves on my shoulders And a fire behind The brook keeps talking To the broken bank I fed it all my fear It gave the silence back [Pre-Chorus] The roots hold fast The mud won’t pray I hear my breathing Turn away [Chorus] Beneath the rotting willow Beneath the rotting willow I break, I break But still I move [Bridge] [Dropout] Only the stream Only the throat Only the pulse That will not close Then the first scream Tears through the haze And the whole tree shudders In a downpour of decay [Solo] [Instrumental] [Final Chorus] Beneath the rotting willow Beneath the rotting willow I break, I break But still I move Beneath the rotting willow Beneath the rotting willow I split in two And nether dies