The Lotus Eaters

The Lotus Eaters

[Verse 1] The river moved like breathing Through the heat below the trees The air was thick with flowers And the slow dust of the bees

No spear rose from the shoreline No warning touched the foam Only hands with open petals Only mouths that whispered home

[Low Voices] Lie still Let the oars go under Lie still Let the black ships fade

[Verse 2] One man took the blossom One man closed his eyes One man said his mother’s name Then laughed until he cried

The sun leaned down upon us Like a weight behind the skin And every thought grew heavy Where the sweetness entered in

[Lotus Voices] No more salt No more flame No far shore No old name

[Refrain] Lie still Let the longing go The blood is warm The tide is slow

Lie still Let the dark ships fade The flower knows What the heart has paid

[Verse 3] I saw the men grow quiet With the petals on their tongues Their hands forgot the rigging Their scars forgot the sun

Someone spoke of Ithaca But the word fell out of sound Like a stone dropped into water That never reached the ground

[Low Voices] No road No grief No wife No sea

[Refrain] Lie still Let the longing go The blood is warm The tide is slow

Lie still Let the dark ships fade The flower knows What the heart has paid

[Bridge] There was a door once There was a flame There was a child once There was a name

But the grass held the body And the air held the bone And the world beyond the island Was a wound no longer known

Do not wake them Do not call Let the soft earth Take them all

[Instrumental Passage]

[Verse 4] I dragged them through the flowers With their curses in my hands Their voices broke like water On the bright and sleeping sand

One begged me for the island One bit through his tongue One reached back toward the petals Like a man toward the sun

[Final Refrain] Lie still Let the longing go The blood is warm The tide is slow

Lie still But I will not remain The flower takes the sorrow Then the flower takes the name

[Outro] No more salt No more flame No far shore No old name

Row low Row blind Leave the dream Leave the mind

The island sings behind us Under root and under foam And the men I dragged from mercy Hated me toward home