A Verbal Fig Leaf · Track 16 · middle

Tinder Box

Tinder Box (1620s) — Ready to catch. Fire as the polite half of the metaphor. VOLUME: II. THE COINERS, 1600–1699. THE DODGE THIS ERA: The dodge became SPORT. Urquhart translating Rabelais invented dozens in an afternoon; nobody was hiding anything, they were competing. The richest century on the list, and the most useless for actually concealing meaning. Sing the AVOIDANCE, never the anatomy.

No audio yet — generation pending.

Lyrics

The plain word is a heavy stone,
it has no music for the sport.
We pass the ink around the oak
to steal a riddle from the court.
I have a quill, you have a cup,
we need a pocket for the coal.
A little tin of beaten brass
to keep the substitution whole.

So pass the tinder box around,
we need a friction to be found.
It is not fire that makes the man,
it is the hundred ways he tries
to draw a much more winding plan,
and build a lexicon of lies.

The French have fifty ways to catch,
and we are English, we have time.
We’ll make a dozen in a batch,
and hide the edges in a line.
A ha'penny for the linen char,
you hold the metal, I the stone.
The trick is seeing from afar
how easily the spark is blown.
You strike it sideways. Watch it hatch.
We never say we want a match.

So pass the tinder box around,
we need a friction to be found.
It is not fire that makes the man,
it is the hundred ways he tries
to draw a much more winding plan,
and build a lexicon of lies.

The jaw locks up before the sound.
The mind is choosing what to keep.
To say it plainly tears it down
and puts the intellect to sleep.
Call it the sulfur, call it wood,
call it a shelter for the night.
It wouldn't burn us if it could,
we only want to dress the light.

The table’s covered in the ash,
the ink is drying on the page.
Beneath the copper and the brass
we have an engine for the stage.

Another riddle being drawn,
another friction understood.
The evening stretches to the dawn,
the box is open on the wood.
Just blow upon the center dust,
it is a very quiet art.
The iron doesn't need to rust
we just enjoy pulling it apart.