October Bells

There’s a fence line stitched through the cottonwood trees

Where the blackbirds sing like broken machines

And I walked past the church with the boarded-up door

Felt the wind hum a hymn I had heard once before

There’s frost on the glass, there’s ash in the pines

And the moon looks like chalk on a slate full of lies

I’ve been carryin’ weight that don’t belong to me

Like a name I was given but never believed

Cold October bells are ringin’

Out across the rusted plains

Every ghost I know is singin’

In the rafters of my brain

And I don’t know where I’m goin’

But I’m leavin’ just the same

With my hands full of questions

And the sky low with rain

I carved out a map in the bark of a birch

Of the lives I could live if I left this old church

And I drank from a stream full of copper and light

Felt the truth in my bones like a match in the night

Cold October bells are ringin’

Like a warning, soft and slow

Every silence I’ve been clingin’

Is just another place to go

And I don’t know what I’m chasin’

But it’s older than my name

With its roots in the valley

And its eyes in the flame

So I’ll walk past the silo and the sun-faded sign

Where the wind turns to ash and the hours unwind

And if you see me again, I’ll be wearing the same

Worn-out goodbye

And a coat full of rain