Bellwether

I’ll keep my hand here on your back
I won’t move it while you sleep
The shaking hours have settled down
Take all the help that you need

I put it on just like an evening dress
Parade to the right, sway to the left
In the morning everything is spent
And I make my way back home

What the wires couldn’t catch
Fails to give a certainty
And the world stirs around
On the edge of all you see

I put it on just like an evening dress
Parade to the right, sway to the left
In the morning everything is spent
And I make my way back home

Settle down, settle down
Settle down for the night

We can put blankets under the leaves
We can fill pages and keep on the dream
I set a good table, take all that you need
I can set more if you come back to me

We can keep sleeping, be late on the rise
We can stay novel with every surprise
I set a good table, take all that you need
They all remain open, you see what I mean

We will blur edges and rid every cage
We will push candles and feel every blaze
We set a good table, take all that you need
We set a good table, take all that you need

We will see colors that wonder and burst
We will raise glasses that rid every thirst
We set a good table, take all that you need
We set a good table, take all that you need

You put it on just like a hiding place
With three separate acts, that ends in disgrace
In the morning everything is safe
And you make your way back home
I put it on just like an evening dress
Parade to the right, sway to the left
In the morning everything is spent
And I make my way back home

Settle down, settle down
Settle down for the night

There is a balm in Gilead It comes like a wisdom but speaks like children
It’s a sight to the blind
A strength to my weakness something for soul, body, mind

There is a balm in Gilead it's a rest for the weary
A song to the sore
It's like a dew to my dryness
That fills me with joy when I had none

There is a balm in Gilead it's a spring in the desert for the withered of soul it’s a strength and a power
That keeps making you whole it's the question your asking and the answers you need
It’s the face you’ve been seeking the one you’ve been begging to see

There is a balm in Gilead, it’s the trash and the remnants of all my train wrecks coming together
And still heading out west
Like a blank paycheck paying off the back rent taking me further to
Whatever’s supposed happen next

There is a balm in Gilead, it’s the light of the dawn
The scales without measure it’s the bread of a baker the blood of a maker
The water I long for and the story on fire
It's the breath and the magic It's something to die for
And the laying down of the shepherd at night

There is a balm in Gilead

I’m holding on to my tomorrows
Shaking from my yesterdays

I’m still waking up, still waking up, I’m still waking up
To today

Open up my eyes
Lately I can’t see
When everything’s blind
That’s when you’re watching me
Open up my heart
Lately I don’t care

The place is falling apart
And I don’t want to go there

Everything gets better when you are around
Everything gets better and you are around everything, everything

I’m holding on to my tomorrows
Shaking from my yesterdays

I’m still waking up, still waking up, I’m still waking up
To today

Open up my hands
Get rid of every crutch
I’ve got the feeling inside
I’m not doing enough
Open up my mind
Lately I can’t think

The future’s unknown and it’s unnerving me

Everything gets better when you are around
Everything gets better and you are around everything, everything

The blessings came in waves and could be felt for days
O, how my bones still shake at your names
In sweat we set the stones in blood we brick the roads a holy breaking comes
For every home

Give me your hand, we’ll climb up the balcony
Ditch the front row and sing with the symphony
Make as much noise and be as we want to be
Your voice in my voice and hands are the canopy
Feel the old rhythm play what’s inside of me

La da, da da da da
La da, da da da da
La da, la da, la da, da da da

The fields are glories now, the fields are glories now
So guide your wild eyes down
The promise in the pain the code that’s in the grain
We’ll move beneath the weight till you raise

Give me your hand, we’ll climb up the balcony
Ditch the front row and sing with the symphony
Make as much noise and be as we want to be
Your voice in my voice and hands are the canopy
Feel the old rhythm play what’s inside of me

I met a man named Melchizedek
He was a good man, a good man
Wandering lonely in the desert, he invited me to stay
Said I would learn to love the space

I knew a woman her name was Jezebel
She was a wild one, a wild one
She said come out and we can have fun
And then she wanted me to go

She couldn’t stand getting too close
And I’m curious who I’ll meet next who among them I will love best
Well that depends upon the context
Doesn’t it? Doesn’t it?

I knew a girl, her name was Mary
She was a sweet child
Her heart was broke and seen for miles wide, miles wide
Like the moon over the world

I met a man from Golgotha
He was a giving man, a giving man
He promised he would break my every damn
In every way I use the word

The wall, the water, and the world
And I’m curious who I’ll meet next who among them I will love best
Well that depends upon the context
Doesn’t it? Doesn’t it?

If I keep it honest, David, will you play with me
I will smile within my pictures and then let the music breathe
We’ll let laughing in the lyrics, setting prose in all its pain
Leaving distance from the cynics, we will keep them all at bay

And we’ll sing through the noise

Joy, joy, joy

I am dressed for the occasion, I am in my Sunday best
I’m worried through my altercations you’ve forgotten the address
David, keep on playing, he is bound to show sometime
And take on all of the problems, like he turns mud into sight

Joy, joy, joy

I trying to remember how I came into this place
I know the affirmations brought their promises of fame
Could my love for spotlight bring your greater love for grace

And when all the shows are over, you're the reason why I stayed

And we’ll sing through the noise
Joy, joy, joy

David, was the audience always on your mind
Were you looking for connection
Was it hard to find
I am dressed for the occasion, I am in my Sunday best
I will play my heart out and forget about the rest

And we’ll sing through the noise
Joy, joy, joy

I don’t mind the anger, I understand the grief
And you get a little fiercer if it’s attention that you seek
So when there’s thunder on the mountain
I’ll give glory where it lands
I’ll lavish the abiding, but it’s silence I can’t stand

The imprint of the Maker is built within the blood
The hope of full redemption is felt in every flood
I brought you to the river
We baptized every step
I lost you in the current, but you haven’t left me yet

You’ve got me hurting, you’ve got me worrying like a long-distance lover’s fight
You’ve got aching, you’ve got me waiting Oh, I’m wide awake at night

I don’t want your religion, I don’t want the pages thin
I don’t want the distant message that changes every spin
I just want a word resounding, pressed into the flesh

A presence for the children, a lift after the ledge
You’ve got me wishing, you’ve got me sitting in dark fields without a light
You’ve got me walking, please keep on talking
Oh, I’m wide awake at night

Oh like water wasted oh like too much tasted
Come I’m waiting
running through the distance, you could run on

You’ve got me trembling, on the edge of singing
So close that I could bite
You’ve me wondering, You’ve got me watching
Oh, I’m wide awake tonight

I’ve been busy filling up pages
I’ve been busy filling up rooms
I’m all done with scheming and conquests

Heavier than you

So I’ve been busy giving up silos
Selling all the storage for cash
Giving to the cause of the waters

Where it makes a splash

I will come to you empty
Throw away my silver spoon
I will come to you empty

Give them better use

I’ve been busy filling up pages
I’ve been busy filling up rooms
I’m taking off all the material

Heavier than you

I will come to you empty
Throw away my silver spoon
I will come to you empty

Give them better use

I will come to you empty
Open every secret chest
I will come to you empty

With no hustle left
I’ve been getting rid of the excess
Holding on tight to the rest

Give me my first kiss
Crowded and fenced in a garden
Ribs hurting fast without pardon
So innocent

Like the first time, like the first lines, let there be light, let there be light
Give me the betrayers kiss
A broken bread torn for the friendship
A contract that’s sealed with the quick whip
You know I won’t go

Tested and true, busted and used
It’s all for you, It’s all for you, I’m all for you

Give me the aged kiss
Rattled and holding my last breath
Waiting for walls to be shaken and oceans so still
Pulled through the years, tangled in fears

And still you’re here, still, you’re here