I Saw The Weak Hand Fall

I came into the square
I lent my violin on the double bass
The bass doubled slowly over
The streamers hung wet from the sky
The colour flooded away

The huge man's leg had fallen off
They were winching him away
Black strings of life hung from his stomach
The air hung round him heavy
We clasped our hands together
And watched the crane lead the mourning

His colour had run so far away
Not even rain would stick to him

In between the sheets of starchy plastic
There's a collar softly cottonwalled
When you're running down the precipice
Or whispered in the leaves
You whisper like a shell to me
A sealing mouth, a shepherd in the breeze

A count that takes forever
But your turn will never come
Returning every time to nothing and to one
The silk will ripple one more time
In waves of nothing, reaching for the edge

I will hear nothing at the end
I'll have seen nothing by the end
In the beginning I had nothing at all
In the beginning I saw a weak hand fall
In the beginning I heard nothing at all
In the beginning I saw a weak hand fall