…

#16 of 20.

why can’t absence

i’ve retraced the wakes
of bottled notes
slept with glaciers on
beds of coals
felt you run right through me
and then retract
let soft fictions cure me
of the facts

why can’t absence
keep its promise
even from a distance
its wish is my command

i hear your maydays
and i move right away
just to be reminded
you’ve come as close as you can

but i
didn’t have a minute to lose
to be loved
we don’t have a minute to lose

ghosts of hummingbirds
down the mines
fetching fevers i’ve
left behind
then they wrap around me
like christmas lights
proving every colour
that you denied

why can’t absence
break its silence
open up a channel
consider our demands

i still hear maydays
and feel my heart race
just to rediscover
an empty point of land

when i
didn’t have a minute to lose
to be loved
we don’t have a minute to lose

no i
didn’t have a minute
to lose
we don’t have a minute to lose

(from “raised by swans is the name of a man, vol. 2: run with the silent wildfires”. available now. all lyrics and music written and performed by e. howden)