THE NECKLACE OF WORDS song lyrics
by Joel Sattler

[based on the fifth poem of
20 Love Songs by Pablo Neruda]

so that your ears can hear me
I give my words an edge so thin
they are like seagull tracks in sand
on the beach of wind

rattlesnake drunk necklace make
your hands as soft as grapes

from afar I watch my words
words that are more yours than mine
watching as they scale my pain
climbing like an ivy vine

the words the words
the words are all we have
your words my words the words
good or bad

ascending same the humid walls
you're to blame for this blood game

fleeing from my darkened hall
you fill it up, you fill it all

before you peopled solitude
they were more used to grief than you

now I want them to say what I say
for you to hear them as plain as day

pounding winds still drag them round
hurricanes still dream them down

in my voice, there you hear others
crying mouths, bloodstained prayers
my girl-brother, do not leave me
follow in the wave that grieves me

but my words die with your love
and you take everything above

so I, an endless necklace make
for your white hands, smooth as the grape

the words the words
the words all are we have
your words my words the words
good or bad

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