Swamp Ophelia

Fare thee well my bright star
I watched your taillights blaze into nothingness
But you were long gone before i ever got to you
Before you blazed past this address

And now i think of having loved and having lost
But never know what it feels like to never love
Who can say what's better when my heart's become the cost
A mere token of a brighter jewel sent from above

Fare thee well my bright star
The vanity of youth the color of your eyes
And maybe if i'd fanned the blazing fire of your day-to-day
Or if i'd been older i'd been wise

Too thick the heat of those long summer evenings
For a cool evening i began to yearn
But you could only feed upon the things which feed a fire
Waiting to see if i would burn

Fare thee well my bright star
It was a brief brilliant miracle dive
That which i looked up to and i clung to for dear life
Had to burn itself up just to make itself alive

And i caught you then in your moment of glory
Your last dramatic scene against a night sky stage
With a moment so clear that it's as if you're still before me
My once in a lifetime star of an age

So fare thee well my bright star
Last night the tongues of fire circled me around
And this strange season of pain will come to pass
When the healing hands of autumn cool me down

I had guards like watchdogs
Dogs in a manger
I could feel the protection
Possession and anger
And i drove out of there
With no on behind me
Feeling funny and free
All you pretty pretenders
Negligent vendors
Aren't you precious inside
I have no need for anger
With intimate strangers
And i got nothing to hide
Yeah

I laughed as i said it
This is my situation
It's not pictures or privilege
It's just self preservation
I don't want you to feel
Any obligation
It feels so funny to be free
All you pretty pretenders
Negligent vendors
Aren't you precious inside
I have no need for anger
With intimate strangers
And i got nothing to hide

We act empty and innocent
But we are fueled by distortions
(i remember you)
Of lives led in discontent
(when we were shiny and new)
Trading misfortunes
(now you guard your faith)
Cause faith is one thing
That is hard to deliver
(temper your speed)
It feels so funny to be free

All you pretty pretenders
Negligent vendors
Aren't you precious inside
I have no need for anger
With intimate strangers
And i got nothing to hide
I got nothing to hide

All of us aren't we
Pretty pretenders
Negligent vendors
Aren't we precious inside
I have no need for anger
With intimate strangers
And i got nothing to hide
I got nothing to hide

I had guards like watchdogs
Dogs in a manger
(i remember you)

We were down at dead man's hill
Smoking vines like cigarettes
Looking through the trashy mags
Trying to feel what's coming next
You told me of crashing cars
Older brothers and late night bars
I told you what i feel most
And you kept it like a ghost forever

Don't you write it down
Remember this in your head
Don't take a picture
Remember this in your heart
Don't leave a message
Talk to me face to face
Talk to me face to face

Lying on the bright blue jumping mat
Dinner bell is ringing
Barking dogs and model planes
And the sound of passing trains
We watch for bonfires in the sky
On the beach in july
Spin the bottle steal the kiss
Postcards to the one i miss forever
The one i miss forever

Don't you write it down
Remember this in your head
Don't take a picture
Remember this in your heart
I'll leave a message
When everything comes apart
(talk to me face to face)
[talk to me face to face]
(everything comes apart)
I'll leave a message
When everything comes apart

I remember cats on fire
Gasoline a burning spiral
Standing underneath the night
Fighting back with all my might
Empty cans and charred remains
Find them in the heat of day
On the top of dead man's hill
This is what i know of shame forever

The thin horizon of a plan is almost clear
My friends and i have had a tough time
Bruising our brains hard up against change
All the old dogs and the magician
Now i see we're in the boat in two by twos
Only the heart that we have for a tool we could use
And the very close quarters are hard to get used to
Love weighs the hull down with its weight
But the wood is tired and the wood is old
And we'll make it fine if the weather holds
But if the weather holds we'll have missed the point
That's where i need to go

No way construction of this tricky plan
Was built by other than a greater hand
With a love that passes all out understanding
Watching closely over the journey
Yeah but what it takes to cross the great divide
Seems more than all the courage i can muster up inside
Although we get to have some answers when we reach the other side
The prize is always worth the rocky ride
But the wood is tired and the wood is old
And we'll make it fine if the weather holds
But if the weather holds we'll have missed the point
That's where i need to go

Sometimes i ask to sneak a closer look
Skip to the final chapter of the book
And then maybe steer us clear from some of the pain it took
To get us where we are this far yeah
But the question drowns in it's futility
And even i have got to laugh at me
No one gets to miss the storm of what will be
Just holding on for the ride
The wood is tired and the wood is old
We'll make it fine if the weather holds
But if the weather holds we'll have missed the point
That's where i need to go

I sit two stories above the street
It's awful quiet here since love fell asleep
There's life down below me though
The kids are walking home from school

Some long ago when we were taught
That for whatever kind of puzzle you got
You just stick the right formula in
A solution for every fool

I remember the time when i came so close to you
Sent me skipping my class and running from school
And i bought you that ring cause i never was cool
What makes me think i could start clean slated
The hardest to learn was the least complicated

So i just sit up in the house and resist
And not be seen until i cease to exist
A kind of conscientious objection
A kind of dodging the draft

The boy and girl are holding hands on the street
And i don't want to but i think you just wait
It's more than just eye to eye
Learn the things i could never apply

I remember the time when i came so close with you
I let everything go it seemed the only truth
And i bought you that ring, it seemed the thing to do

What makes me think i could start clean slated
The hardest to learn was the least complicated
So what makes me think i could start clean slated
The hardest to learn was the least complicated

I'm just a mirror of a mirror myself
All the things that i do
And the next time i fall i'm gonna have to recall
It's isn't love it's only something new

I sit two stories above the street
It's awful quiet here since love fell asleep
There's life down below me though
The kids are walking home from school

I'm remember the time when i came so close with you
Sent me skipping my class and running from school
And i bought you that ring cause i never was cool

What makes me think i could start clean slated
The hardest to learn was the least complicated
So what makes me think i could start clean slated
The hardest to learn was the least complicated
The least complicated
The least complicated

I don't know if it was real or in a dream
Lately waking up i'm not sure where i've been
There was a table set for six and five were there
I stood outside and kept my eyes upon that empty chair
And there was steam on the windows from the kitchen
Laughter like a language i once spoke with ease
But i'm made mute by the virtue of decision
And i choose most of your life goes on without me
Oh the fear i've known
That i might reap the praise of strangers
And end up on my own
All i've sown was a song but maybe i was wrong

I said to you the one gift which i'd adore
The package of the next 10 years unfolding
But you told me if i had my way i'd be bored
Right then i knew i loved you best born of your scolding
When we last talked we were lying on our backs
Looking at the sky through the ceiling
I used to lie like that alone out on the driveway
Trying to read the greek upon the stars
The alphabet of feeling
Oh i knew back then
It was a calling that said if joy then pain
The sound of the voice these years later
Is still the same

I am alone in a hotel room tonight
I squeeze the sky out but there's not a star appears
Begin my studies with this paper and this pencil
And i'm working through the grammar of my fears
Oh mercy what i won't give
To have the things that mean the most
Not to mean the things i miss
Unforgiving the choice still is
The language or the kiss