St. Valentine's Boys

I'd like to know the birds outside my window by their songs alone
but it would take too long and I
would get it wrong
And in some small revealing way
You'd know it is when I have thoughts like this
I mostly let them fly away
These have been violent times for Saint Valentine's boys
What does he expect we'll do with all these candy hearts
He sent us down here to destroy?

I'd like to show all of those careless lovers why their love is wrong
and why the vows they made in earnest will be gone
With every small revealing day
They will be violent times that come before the fall
But they won't need me to shoot the arrow
When it comes time to paint their marrow on the wall

I see the hearth-fire houses of young families
Curtains open wide
All so the lonely ones can come
And see the sum of all the pleasures they're denied
They'd like to throw your closets and your cupboards
Open on the floor
Until your treasures and your secrets are no more
And it is all revealed in grey
And so it is when I have thoughts like this I mostly let them fly away