[Verse 1] I brought the language they taught me I brought it folded like a coat I brought it to the lychgate iron And I held it in my throat The priest had done his daylight portion The town had done its public hymn Night was a different jurisdiction And the dead mile did not let it in I said the opening like a locksmith I said the middle like a child The trees took none of it The ditch ran on, unreconciled [Pre-Chorus] Not because I did not mean it Not because I did not try Some roads are built to carry bodies They are not built to carry why [Chorus] No prayer made it out It hit the gate and turned around No prayer made it out It fell between my mouth and ground If the corpse road wants a payment It wants silence, cloth, and doubt No prayer made it out And I walked the rest without [Verse 2] I had words for the August cold I had words for the widow’s share I had words for the coat that frosted And the red that would not leave the air None of them changed the temperature None of them unlocked the latch A sentence is a living tool The dead have little use for that I watched my breath go white and vanish Like a letter never sent The lantern kept its small circle And that was all the mercy I was lent [Pre-Chorus] Not because I did not mean it Not because the night was proud The mile was made to hide a burden Not to hear a person out loud [Chorus] No prayer made it out It hit the gate and turned around No prayer made it out It fell between my mouth and ground If the corpse road wants a payment It wants silence, cloth, and doubt No prayer made it out And I walked the rest without [Verse 3] At the far field I tried once more A shorter thing, a plainer ask Keep him. Keep the inventory Leave the house to do its task Even that came back and sat On my tongue like black salt grit I understood the old arrangement Why they sew a mouth and call it fit The living get the talking rooms The dead get the second street A prayer is just a living hunger Trying to make the two streets meet [Bridge] I am not done with God I am done with using God as rope To drag a man back up a roadway That was cut to end that hope If there is hearing It is not here It is not in the ditch It is not in the bell That stayed in town And left us this [Breakdown] Say it Take it back Say it Watch it crack Gate Stone Mile Doubt No prayer Made it out [Verse 4] I came home and did not kneel I put the kettle on instead I told the rooms the honest version The year is paid. The man is dead If October still wants its due It can have the quiet I have left It cannot have a pretty ending I already spent that breath In the morning people asked me If the service brought me peace I said the daylight did its job The night refused to lease [Chorus] No prayer made it out It hit the gate and turned around No prayer made it out It fell between my mouth and ground If the corpse road wants a payment It wants silence, cloth, and doubt No prayer made it out And I walked the rest without [Final Chorus] No prayer made it out I still taste the failed attempt No prayer made it out That is not a lack of reverence If you meet me on that dead road Do not offer me a verse I already spent the good ones On a gate that would not nurse [Outro] Mouth empty Gate shut Road finished That is the cut No prayer made it out So I didn't Make it up
