Bundles

Lyrics

Oh, pick me up, I'm this bundle of sticks Tied with the stems of clover and brambles Oh, pick me up, I'm this bundle Wrapped in shrouds of muscle And patched with cedars and shadows Patched for a million miles And waiting like a praying mantis To be found by a curious child Those tiny ones with open-eyed wonder Like the jaws of a yawning coyote Or a cactus a-blooming early And a loving dawn like a mother And a loving dawn like a mother And wishing it rained was the answer And a loving dawn like a mother And a loving dawn like a mother And wishing it rained was the answer And in curious jars we're a-spinning Spinning, spinning, spinning into sickness Spinning, spinning, spinning into sickness And singing for stillness Spinning, spinning, spinning into sickness Spinning, spinning, spinning into sickness And making up a still bed Making up a still bed Making up a still bed So I'm notching my spine with thorns pulled from your thumb Notching my spine with thorns pulled from your thumb And I am swallowing my, I'm swallowing my bees down I'm buckling my, I'm buckling my knees up I'm eating my own hide to hide in my own skin I'm eating my own hide to hide in my own skin 'Til I am left a-hanging upside down and draining Like skinned does a-dangling from a hunter's oak limb Like my sisters, those does, woven in red shrouds And wearing bare ribbons of tightly-wrapped muscles And bearing the burden of being that gift from the forest That turns humans wooden when opened So can you, can you, can you tell me? Can you, can you, can you tell me? If it's easier to be emptier but lighter If it's easier to be the lantern or the fire If it's easier to be a lover or an echo If it's easier to be the bull or the fighter And if it's easier to die by arrows or by tigers If it's easier to fly by monarchs or by sparrows By monarchs or by sparrows Let me know And there's a grizzly bearing in me There's a grizzly bearing in me And in you and in us and in we And in you and in us and in we Grizzly paws hide me And grizzly paws hold me And grizzly cradles me Raising me like an offering Of a bundle of sticks to the sun Of a bundle of sticks to the sun Of a bundle of sticks to the sun, to the sun Now I'm sewing sewing sewing medicine bundles With grass threads and porcupine quills And I'm filling them up with galaxy beams And with all the stars you've snuffed And all the ghosts you've been And with every shape you've morphed And all the trees you've stumped And I'm filling 'em up With all the blood your heart has pumped and pumped And with all of the love that your mouth has rushed And with all of the voices that your ears have rung And with all of the life that your dirt has sprung And with all of the magic that your gardens have grown I'm filling up these bundles with all the seeds You've sown and sown and sown And all the roots you've webbed and all the wind You've blown and blown and blown All the roots you've webbed and all the wind you've blown And I'm filling up these bundles with all the twins you've born And with every brother lost and all the organs you've loaned With every brother lost and all the organs you've loaned So, pick us up, we're these bundles Tied with the stems of clover and brambles Oh, pick us up, we're these bundles Wrapped in shrouds of muscles