Sticks & Stones

Gather wood against the weather
Pile up stones against the sky
String of lights like pearls between us
And the heavens' blackest eye

Tell the hour go take another
Go down Moses without a fuss
Taken to the lawless water
And send that later boat for us

Sticks and stones, blood, ash and bone
I shake the tree, swim out alone
Turnin' over the dark Missouri
Now that every new leaf I had is gone

Moon's near empty, a swinging saber
Keeping every prayer at bay
At the throat of love for ransom
From the dull approaching day

There's no law that rides this border
No fences stretch this far to show
How times will side against another
As one arrives and others go

Sticks and stones, blood, ash and bone
I shake the tree, swim out alone
Turnin' over the dark Missouri
Now that every new leaf I had is gone

Whores are dressed in fire and feathers
On a beach, sit in a row
Climb the bank through scrub and tinder
Disappear where rabbits go

They had nothing that I needed
But I gave them all I had
Just to share some dirt between them
As we waited, smoked and laughed

Sticks and stones, blood, ash and bone
I shake the tree, swim out alone
Turnin' over the dark Missouri
Now that every new leaf I had is gone

Now that every new leaf I had is gone
Now that every new leaf I had is gone
Now that every new leaf I had is gone