F and there was a booming a Am bove you
that nigh F t black airplanes flew o Am ver the sea
F and they were lowing and shifting Am like
beached whales
shelled F snails
as you strained and you s Am quinted to see
the re F treat of their hairless and Am blind cavalry
you Em froze in your D sand shoal
C prayed for your Bb poor soul
Em sky was a b D read roll, so C aking in a m Bb ilk-bowl
and when the bread broke,
fell in bricks of wet smoke
my sleeping heart woke, and my waking heart spoke
F then there was a silence you took to mean Am something:
mean "Run, F sing,
for alive you will Am evermore be!"
F and the plague of the greasy black engines a-skulkin' Am
has gone east F
while you're left to explain them to Am me
releas F ed from their hairless and blind cavalry Am
with your hands in your pockets,
stubbily running
to where I'm unfresh, undressed and yawning
well, what is this craziness?
this crazy talking?
you caught some small death when you were sleepwalking
Am it was a E dark dream, D darlin', it's Asus4 over
the Am firebreather C is beneath the Bb clover
beneath his breathing there is cold clay, forever
a toothless hound-dog choking on a feather
F#m but I took my fish C#m ingpole ( F#m fearing your D fever)
F#m down to the C#m swimminghole,
F#m where there grows a D bitter herb
that F#m blooms but A one day a year by the D riverside -
Gm7(arpeggio up)
I'd bring it here:
a F pply it g C ently
to the Bb love you've Dm lent me
F while the river was twisting and braiding, the Am bait bobbed
and the string F sobbed, as it cut through the Am hustling breeze
F and I watched how the water was kneading Am so neatly
gone F treacly
nearly slowed to a Am stop in this heat
- frenzy c F oiling flush along the Am muscles beneath G
Am press on me: C we are restless Em things G
Am webs of sea C weed are swaddling Em G
you call Am upon the dusk C
of the musk Em of a squid G
Am shot full of ink C , until you sink into Em your crib G
Dm rowing along F , among the C reeds, among the Em rushes
Dm I heard your F song, befor C e my heart had time to Am hush it!
Dm smell of a s F tone fruit b C eing cut and being Em opened
Dm smell of a l F ow and of a C lazy cinder Am smoking
and when C the fire moves away G C
Am fire moves away, son G F
C why woul G d you say C
Am I was the la G st one F ?
Am scrape your knee; C it is only skin Em G
Am makes the sound C of violins Em G
when I cut your h Am air, and C leave the bir Em ds all of the trimmings G
I am the happie Am st woman am C ong all women Em G
and the C#m shallow
Fm water stretches as
C#m far as I
G#m can see
knee-deep, C#m trudging along
a Fm seagull weeps; G#m "so long"
I'm Fm humming a threshing song
until the night is over
C# hold on! hold on!
hold your horses back from the fickle Fm dawn
I have got some business out at the edge of town
candy weighing both of my pockets down
'til I can hardly stay afloat, from the weight of them
(and knowing how the common-folk condemn
what it is I do, to you, to keep you warm
being a woman, being a woman)
but always up the mountainside you're clambering
groping blindly, hungry for anything:
picking through your pocket linings - well, what is this?
scrap of sassafras, eh Sisyphus?
I see the blossoms broke and wet after the rain
little sister, he will be back again
I have washed a thousand spiders down the drain
spiders ghosts hang soaked and dangelin'
silently from all the blooming cherry trees
in tiny nooses, safe from everyone
nothing but a nuisance; gone now, dead and done
be a woman, be a woman!
Very fast:
though Fm we felt the spray of the waves
we decided to stay till the C# tide rose too far
we weren't afraid, cause we know what you are
and you know that we know what you are
Cm awful atoll
o, incalculable indiscreetness and sorrow!
bawl, C# bellow:
Sibyl sea-cow, all done Fm up in a bow
toddle and roll;
teeth an impalpable bit of leather
while yarrow, heather and hollyhock
awkwardly molt along the shore
Fm are you mine? C#
Fm my heart?
C# mine anymore?
F C#m etc.
stay with me for awhile
that's an awfully real gun
I know life will lay you down
as the lightning has lately done
Fm failing this, fai C# ling this,
Am follow me, my sweetest fri G end
to see what y F ou anointed in pointing your gun there Am
C lay it down! nice and slow!
there is G nowhere to go, save F up
up where the light, undiluted, is Am weaving in a drunk F dream
at the sight of my Am baby, out back:
F back on the patio wa Am tching the bats bring night F in
- while, elsewhere, F estuaries of wax-white
F wend, endlessly, towards Am seashores unmapped
last Em week our pict D ure window C produced a half- Bb word
Em heavy and h D ollow, hit by C a brown bir Bb d
Em we stood an D d watched her C gape like a Bb rattlesnake
Em and pant an D d labour over C every intak Bb e
Am I said a E sort of pray D er for some ra Asus4 re grace
the Am n thought I ou C ght to take her Bb to a higher place
said: "dog nor vulture nor cat shall toy with you
and though you die, bird, you will have a fine view"
F#m then in my C#m hot hand
F#m she slumped h D er sick weight
F#m we tramped C#m through the poison oak
F#m heartbroke D and inchoate
F#m the dogs were s A napping
F#m so you cuffed their D collars
F#m while I climbed A the tree-house
F#m then how I hollered! D
well she'd F#m lain, as C#m still as a s F#m tone, in my A palm, for a D lifetime or Gm7 two
F then, saw the C treetops, Bb cocked her head and Dm up and flew
(while, F#m back in the C#m world that moves, F#m often
a A ccording to the D hoarding of Gm7 these clues
Em dogs still run D roughly around
C little tufts of Bb finch-down)
F the cities we passed were a flickering w Am asteland
but his hand F in my hand made them hale Am and harmless
F while down in the lowlands the Am crops are all coming;
we have everything F
life is thundering blissful t Am owards death
in a stampede of F his fumbling green Am gentleness Em
Am you stopped C by, I was Em all al G ive
Am in my do C orway, we Em shucked and G jived
and when you Am wept, I was C gone:
see, I got Em gone when I got G wise
but I Am can't with C certainty Em say we survi G ved
Dm then down, and down F
and down, and Am down
and down, and C deeper
Dm stoke without sound F
the blameless flames C
you endless sleeper G
Dm through fire below, an F d fire above, and fire C within Em
Dm sleeped through the things that F couldn't have C been if you hadn't have G been
and when C the fire moves away G C
Am fire moves away, s G on F
C why wou G ld you say C
Am I was the last G one? F
Am all my bo C nes they are gone, gone, Em gone G
Am take my bon C es, I don't ne Em ed none G
Am cold, cold cupb C oard, Lord, nothing to c Em hew on! G
Am suck all day C on a cherry Em stone G
Am dig a little h C ole, not three Em inches round G
Am spit your pi C t in the hole i Em n the ground G
Am weep upon the spot for t C he starving of me Em ! G
till Am up grow a fine C young cherry tre Em e G
well when Am the bough breaks, what C 'll you make for me? Em G
a l Am ittle willow cabi C n to rest on Em your knee G
Am what'll I d C o with a trinke Em t such as this? G
Am think of your woman C , who's gone to the we Em st G
but I'm Am starving and C freezing in my measly o Em ld bed! G
then I'll Am crawl across the C salt flats to Em stroke your G sweet head
Am come across the desert with C no shoes on! Em G
Am I love you tru C ly, or I lo Em ve no-one G
C fire m G oves away C
Am fire moves away, s G on F
C why woul G d you say C
Am I was the last G one? F last one
F clear the room! there's a fire, a fire, a fire Am
get goin F g, and I'm going to be right behind you Am
F and if the love of a woman or two, dear, Am
couldn't move yo F u to such heights, then all I can do Am
is d F o, my darling, right by y Am ou
Joanna Newsom
