Lyrics

[Verse 1] Merchants of Cyrene, close your palms On the last remaining place A sprig of Silphium grows The silvery cold of a coin face The boats have all vanished from the slimey harbourwalls Apollonia emptied to reveal all [Chorus 1] How we are lost Bowed to the hearthlight Telling our girls why we'll have to be leaving Fat teardrops roll Off the bluffs of our cheekbones Orangey globes Spent with a hiss on the dying coals [Verse 2] No more sap of laserwort to grate Over braised flamingo hearts Or render into a salve To purge the uterus lining Nothing left to sprinkle on the boiled brains of sheep Other than this cheap asafoetida [Chorus 2] How we are lost Loading the oxcart With a halfmoon Filled of our meagre possession Tying it fast With twine from my uncle's shop And now I must wake the girls Darlings, quick to the courtyard [instrumental] [Chorus 3] How we are lost Scrolling the highway Leaving behind the only home we have ever known Lamp on a pole Eyes glued to the bouldered road In my mouth, a moth goes and instantly perishes Halting the cart I stop to listen Cows in the dark Bells at the edge of the ocean Mingle with snores - A child sleeping in my earhole I feel alive How we are lost in each other [Outro] Merchants of Cyrene that you hold Let them go