So I could just lay here And watch your skin turn into salt And breathe deep in relief As you start to evaporate. And I too will dry out And thin until I am no more, Just as God intended And we will meet beneath the tongues of flame Called by our Hebrew names. The white wind, your black lungs A mass of gray inside your chest A simple equation To somehow set your head straight A red box with ribbons To house all of our troubles A weak knee, an earthquake The fact that I could never come out clean At least that's how it seemed. So I'll pretend to understand, While you bury me in sand And build your house upon the shaking patch of earth So I've been giving it a chance With my head between my hands But it's just too much to know that you're happier alone. A contract A constant A phrase that will not leave my mouth The Garden of Eden Hung up around your shoulder So I could have waited out on an empty threshing floor And quoted the Gospels I guess it's better that I did not try I just don't know why.