Fog the Glass

He stands before the window

Watching for the wolves

His breath comes hot and heavy

With all the weight of rules

He learned to watch for danger

Before he learned to rest

Now his eyes are always open

And his hands are at his chest

But see the glass is fogging

Where he stands too near the pane

The world becomes a smudge of light

A landscape without name

The very thing he’s guarding

Dissolves before his sight

He’s so afraid of darkness

That he’s blinded himself with fright

And it doesn’t matter why you came

To press your face against the frame

Vigilance or violence

Duty or the dread

The glass fogs just the same, my love

Whether kept or fled

You cannot see the garden

Through the windows of your fear

The closer that you look for it

The more it disappears

The soul has got its viewports

And they open both ways round

But he’s breathing on the inside

Till he cannot see the ground

What good is all the watching

When the watcher is the veil?

What good is building fortresses

When you’re locked inside the jail?

Step back

Step back from the glass

Let the fog clear

Let the moment pass

The wolves you’re watching for

May not even be out there

And if they are

You’ll see them better

From a breath of cleaner air

There’s a man who knew the meadows

Every color, every line

But he stood so close to safety

That he slowly went blind

Not from darkness, not from age

But from the heat of his own gaze

The windows of his soul fogged shut

And he lived inside the haze

So tell me what you’re guarding

So tell me what you fear

Is it out beyond the window

Or is it already here?

The glass is just a glass, my love

It only shows what’s true

And the fog that hides the world

Is only coming from you