[Intro — angular guitar figure, repeating unevenly; faint metallic resonance] There's a window. There's a wall. There's a window Inside the wall. There's a face Inside the window. There's a face Behind it all. [Verse 1] Second floor, third pane White ribs in a black frame A skull at the window, perfectly still Looking down at the town on the hill I stand on the pavement It stands in the glass I watch it watching The people who pass I see what it is I know what it means The shape underneath The shape underneath But the glass holds the sky And the sky holds the street And the street holds the shadow That follows my feet [Refrain — dry, measured] I look at it. It looks at me. I look at it. It looks at me. Which side Am I supposed to be? [Verse 2] A woman walks by With a child in her arms The child sees the window The mother sees nothing An old man looks up Then looks at his hands Like somebody whispered The end of a plan The skeleton doesn't move Doesn't blink Doesn't breathe Doesn't ask what I think It has no eyes But it knows where I stand It has no mouth But I understand The window is open The window is closed The window is something Nobody owns [Chorus — restrained, unsettling] Death stares back Through the silver and the black I thought I was looking out But something's looking back Death stares back No beginning, no end I thought I was the witness I was only the lens [Instrumental — guitar motif splinters into dissonant overlapping repetitions] [Verse 3] I move to the left It waits in the pane I move to the right It is there again I cover my face It remains in the glass I close both my eyes And the darkness looks back I step toward the window The street falls away The glass grows deeper Than the distance to the pane I can see the room But the room cannot be I can see the bones But the bones cannot see— That's what I tell myself. That's what I repeat. The glass is between us. The glass is between— [Sudden stop] [Quietly] Me. [Verse 4 — bass alone, voice close and detached] What is a face When nobody sees it? What is a room When nobody leaves it? What is a body Without someone inside? What is a witness With nowhere to hide? I thought I was living Because I could see The dead in the window Looking down at me But the dead don't look And the glass doesn't know And the face in the silver Has nowhere to go So why does it follow Wherever I stand? Why does it fit The shape of my hands? [Chorus — guitars enter, dissonant and heavy] Death stares back Through the silver and the black I thought I was looking out But something's looking back Death stares back No beginning, no end I thought I was the witness I was only the lens [Bridge — drums drop out; one guitar scrapes against the repeating motif] On this side: the breathing. On that side: the bones. On this side: the looking. On that side: the known. On this side: the question. On that side: the glass. On this side: the future. On that side— [Pause] Which side is the past? [The guitar repeats the opening figure, gradually detuning] I am looking at it. It is looking at me. I am looking at it. It is looking at me. I am looking— [Distorted vocal, still the same singer] At me. [Final Chorus — building, then abruptly thinning] Death stares back Through the silver and the black I thought I was looking out But something's looking back Death stares back No beginning, no end I thought I was the witness— I thought— I thought— [Outro — one dry guitar note, distant room tone] This morning There was no skeleton. Just a window. Just a room. Just a town on the other side. I stood outside and looked in. Someone stood inside and looked out. Neither one moved. Neither one knew which one was alive. [Silence] [Final Chorus — building, then abruptly thinning] Death stares back Through the silver and the black I thought I was looking out But something's looking back Death stares back No beginning, no end I thought I was the witness— I thought— I thought— [Outro — one dry guitar note, distant room tone] This morning There was no skeleton. Just a window. Just a room. Just a town on the other side. I stood outside and looked in. Someone stood inside and looked out. Neither one moved. Neither one knew which one was alive. [Silence]
