Lyric

The salamander

[verse 1]

A woman in a purple skirt drifted past my sight

She whispered "let me eat something good tonight"

I hid behind the hunchback's shadow, staring at the sky

Oh joys of this world — tell me, where did you go and why

[chorus]

Still life — this fragile life of mine

Rattling on the convict's train down the line

No will to break it, no strength to build it right

Stumbling on alone, yeah, that's my fight

[verse 2]

I marked the days off on a pregnancy calendar once

Stood by the still water's edge in a kind of stunned

The smoke from the mountain hollow faded into stars

Can't even remember now how long ago that was

[chorus]

Still life — this fragile life of mine

Rattling on the convict's train down the line

No will to break it, no strength to build it right

Stumbling on alone, yeah, that's my fight

[bridge]

After the embers cool — forty-nine days of the salamander's sleep

The child inside the earth hasn't woken from the deep

Tokyo Tower of Sympathy — who did they build you for

Ragged scraps of cloud keep drifting, nothing more

[verse 3]

Park life is over now, I'm walking through the graves

Convenience store human — the night just goes on for days

Oh friend who held the light — where are you now, where'd you go

Only ragged scraps of dreams are all I've got to show

[outro - spoken word]

……Still life

Still living