Spirit Bend

I never taught my spirit how to bend before it breaks
And then comedown's always easier when the worst part is over with
And I'm not sore from a backbend, I'm just shattered on the floor
'Cause I know I can't withstand the winds of war
There are threads of darkness and they're creeping down my spine
And a figure stands behind me, always slightly to the right
But he's holding me together and he's gotten me this far
I can't have an exorcism, if I did I'd fall apart

I'll follow the winding road
It'll take me through Idaho
And I don't know how, but I know
The place I return to, it won't be my home
To miss a touch you've never known
It's like I can feel you grasping at my bones
And I'm grateful for all the grace that you've shown
You proved to a skeptic we're truly not alone

There's a black dog chasing me, he can never quite catch up
Filled with an eternal hunger, I would never be enough
But he doesn't seem to know that, and he never seems to stop
And his presence shifts the focus from what I am to what I'm not
There is far too much of me, so which parts can I let go?
I'll try to starve the devil out or catch him in my throat
Remain an unnamed evil, a hatchet buried deep
Known only in those silver lines and the secrets that I keep

I'll follow the winding road
It'll take me through Idaho
And I don't know how, but I know
The place I return to, it won't be my home
To miss a touch you've never known
It's like I can feel you grasping at my bones
And I'm grateful for all the grace that you've shown
You proved to a skeptic we're truly not alone

In the forest where the black dog finally lays down with the lamb
It won't be like what they describe, I can only hope you'll understand
They have to die together and they can't exist apart
And they'll start to rot away within the shadows of your heart
I am the dog, I am the lamb, the forest lives inside me
It's my blood that sustains them and it's really me they're fighting
I have to keep them both alive and learn to deal with it
'Cause the day that they stop breathing is the day I cease to leave

I'll follow the winding road
It'll take me through Idaho
And I don't know how, but I know
The place I return to, it won't be my home
To miss a touch you've never known
It's like I can feel you grasping at my bones
And I'm grateful for all the grace that you've shown
You proved to a skeptic we're truly not alone
No we're never alone