Baby Birch

(album: Have One On Me - 2010)

This is the song for Baby Birch
Oh I will never know you

And at the back of what we've done
There is that knowledge of you

Well I wish we could take every path
I could spend a hundred years adoring you

Yes, I wish we could take every path
because you know I hated to close the door on you

Do you remember staring up at the stars
So far away in their bulletproof cars?

When we heard the rushing, slow intake
Of the dark, dark water and the engine breaks

And I said, "How about them engine breaks?
And if I should die before I wake

Will you keep an eye on Baby Birch?
Because I'd hate to see her make the same mistake"

When it was dark, I called and you came
When it was dark, I saw shapes
When I see stars, I feel in your hand
And I see stars and I reel again

Well mercy me, I'll be goddamned
It's been a long, long time since I last saw you

And I have never known the plan
It's been a long, long time, how are you?

Your eyes are green, your hair is gold
Your hair is black, your eyes are blue

I closed the ranks, and I doubled back
But, you know I hated to close the doggone door on you

We take a walk along the dirty lake
Hear the goose cussing at me over her eggs
You poor little cousin, I don't want your dregs
A little baby fussing over my legs

There is a blacksmith and there is a shepherd and there is a butcher-boy
And there is a barber, who's cutting and cutting away at my only joy
I saw a rabbit as slick as a knife and as pale as a candlestick
And I had thought it'd be harder to do but I caught her, and skinned her quick
Held her there, kicking and mewling, upended, unspooling, unsung and blue
Told her, "Wherever you go, little runaway bunny, I will find you"
And then she ran as they're liable to do

Be at peace baby and be gone
Be at peace baby and be gone