Inkwell

i'm right inside; can you let me out?
you're hanging around my ghost down the street
you ought to know it's me

i'm staring at the ceiling and i've been here awhile
i'm counting up the miles passing into the year
decipher a new meaning from your mystery smile
i'm writing off the feeling ringing on in my ears

i'd lure the moon to the sky
to see you now and then
i've got another goodbye
to trade for any end

now i'm right outside; come let me in
i found my sunbeams replaced with headlights
they're stitched together but it's just as well
it lasts forever when you ring this bell
but tomorrow is thrust into the fray
i remember the way

come drink the drying sap from these trees
i'll cut open the bark
your shadow's cast in color and your flower's in bloom
i plucked off every petal so there's nothing to lose
i could drag this soil until the roots intertwine
but i dug up all the earth to watch the coils unwind
here's how we make our amends
time and time again

oh sweet boy, did you find your voice?
when you talk, it's nothing but noise
'cause with a wink, you stole your lines from me
now you say i should treat the poets gently when they write out their grief
but the lullabies are empty when they're sung by a thief
you're noble in your cause when you're lost in your thoughts
so silent are the throats when they're marked for the block

i could be an old friend
inside dead hand-me-downs
then i can see you again
and i could see you again

cross your heart and it skips its beat
scrawled forever in the inkwell's grease
with fingers on the pulse of your dream, i can feel it keep time