my heart became a drunken (lung)
on the day i sunk in this shunt
to tap me clean
of all the wonder
and the sorrow i have seen
since i left my home
my home on the old milk lake
where the darkness does fall so fast
it feels like some kind of mistake
just like they told you it would
just like they told you it would

when i came into my land
i did not understand
neither dry rot or the burn pile or the bark
beetle or the dry well
or the black ale

but there is another
who is a little older
when i broke my bone,
he carried me up from the riverside
to spend my life in spitting distance
of the love that i have known
i must stay here
in an endless eveningtide

and if you come and see me
you'll upset the order
you cannot come and see me
for i set myself apart
but when you come and see me
in California
you cross the border of my heart

well, i have sown untidy furrows 'cross my (soul/soil)
but i am still a coward
content to see my garden grow so sweet
and full of someone else's flowers
sometimes i can almost feel the power
sometimes i am so in love with you
like a little clock that trembles on the edge of the hour
only ever calling out "cuck-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo"

when i called you
you little one
in a bad way
did you love me?
do you spite me?
time will tell
if i can be well
and rise to meet you rightly

when moving across my land
brandishing themselves like a burning branch
advance the tallow-colored, wall-eyed deer
quiet as gondoliers

well, i wait all night for you in California
watching the fox pick off my goldfish
from their sorry, golden state
and i am no longer afraid of anything
save the life that here awaits

i don't belong to anyone
my heart is heavy as an oil drum
and i don't want to be alone
my heart is yellow as an ear of corn

and i have torn my soul apart
from pulling artlessly with (f..) commands
some nights i just never go to sleep at all
and i stand
shaking in the doorway like a sentinel, all alone
bracing like the bow upon a ship
and fully abandoning
any thought of anywhere but home
my home
sometimes i can almost feel the power
and i do love you
is it only timing that has made it such a dark hour
only ever chiming out "cuck-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo"

cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a
cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a
cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a
cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a

my heart
i wear you down
i know
gotta think straight
keep a clean plate
keep from wearing down

if i lose my hay
just where am i going to lay?

for it has half who need to be hanging around
you know Daphne (blue/blooming) out (the/a) (big/bit) (ground/brown)
i'm a native too, but i'm overgrown
i am sure my roots are near this (writ as wrote)
here down
in California