Said the King to the River
Up, my lady, pack your things, this place is not your home. Nor was it ever, sever every tie, tonight we ride. Tonight we ride.
Tonight we ride
And how we’ve trembled at the way that time assembles little fires of desire in the tundra of our skin. So do yourself a little favor, savor every time you waver for that shaking in my voice was only slyly feigned chagrin. Tonight we ride.
Tonight we ride
Oh, lover, uncover. I know it’s warm beneath your sheets, and there is ice along the streets, but listen, lover, we will recover. But we’ve no time to waste with meddling in affairs, we’ve locked so tightly in our dreams. We are not clean, we are not pure, we will not rest until we’re sure. So rob your pretty little eyes of sleep’s disguise. I’m at your bedside with a bucket full of lies, so clear your ears and listen. Up, my lady, pack your things, this place is not your home.
And I know what is
And to the glorious past: You’ve opened my window but broken the glass. And I beseech thee, ‘shed thy beauty.’ For as a child leaves the womb and learns the cold, you have taught us peril in the present, and you will bring us peril in our surely-soon-will-be. Unless ;
The river’s not flooded this time
Oh, precious distance
Oh, precious pain
You’ve given me a name
And etched it in the stones of the river bank
Oh, precious distance
Oh, precious pain
You’ve given us a name
You’ve given us a name
“Rise!” said the King to the River, “Never let up! No, bring us a flood and bring it hard!” “Freeze!” said the Wind to the Water, “Never give in! No, build us a bridge! And build it strong and angry. Let it stall the King’s decrees. Oh, you must contemplate the current, Boy, and command that coward cease. The boy breathes for his love says, ‘I wait.’ His love says, ‘I wait.’ She’s shouting out, “I will come back. Yes, I will come back! And I will come. I have lived my life so uncomfortably. Darling, come for me, come for me.”
“Rise!” said the Boy to his Lover, “Darling, get up. I’ve brought you my love, and brought it far!”
“Leave!” said the Girl to her Lover, “I’ve given in. If love is a bridge, we built it wrong!”