[Verse 1] I took the apple from the bowl The one that still had all its skin I sat it on the cutting board And I let the night come in Old talk said the dead hate iron Old talk said a spirit turns If you feed it something honest With a hardness in the heart of it I did not do it for a party I did not do it for a dare I did it so the corpse road Would not follow me up the stair [Pre-Chorus] Not a trick Not a treat Not a joke to make them laugh Just a fruit Just a nail Just a line I would not cross in half [Chorus] I put iron in the apple And I left it on the sill I put iron in the apple As a lock against my will If October wants a window It can look, it cannot take I put iron in the apple And I did it wide awake [Verse 2] You used to bring me fruit in paper Like a peace I had to peel You used to say that sweetness Was the one thing we could feel Then you took the living street And you left me the long way home And the house learned how to listen For a step that was your own So I made a little boundary In a language older than our fight If you come back as a kindness You will know me by the bite [Pre-Chorus] Not a curse Not a show Not a story for the yard Just a way To keep a hunger From walking in unguarded [Chorus] I put iron in the apple And I left it on the sill I put iron in the apple As a lock against my will If October wants a window It can look, it cannot take I put iron in the apple And I did it wide awake [Verse 3] At midnight I walked the dead mile With the taste of fruit and rust Every lantern in the village Looked too warm and too unjust The ditch kept its black water The trees kept their old work And I understood the custom Was a marriage to the dirt I was not keeping out a stranger I was keeping out a need The kind that puts a living person On a road they did not build to lead [Bridge] If you find it in the morning Do not call it craft or cute Do not photograph the gesture Do not hang it like a fruit It is a bolt through tenderness It is a yes that learned to no It is the only honest offering I had left to show [Breakdown] Apple Iron Sill Night Apple Iron Hold the line If it browns If it splits Let it That is the point of it [Verse 4] I threw it in the yard at dawn When the bell began to lean The birds would not go near it And I called that good and clean I rinsed my hands. I made the coffee I put his cup back on the shelf A ward is just a conversation You have with your weaker self If the year comes back next autumn I will do the rite again Not to hurt a living body To keep the dead mile out of my kitchen [Chorus] I put iron in the apple And I left it on the sill I put iron in the apple As a lock against my will If October wants a window It can look, it cannot take I put iron in the apple And I did it wide awake [Final Chorus] I put iron in the apple If you loved me, you will know I put iron in the apple That is as far as I can go If you meet me on the corpse road Do not ask me what I hid I kept myself with metal In the one sweet thing I did [Outro] Bowl empty Board clean Window latched Year mean Iron Apple In between
