Odes to Joy

Tarot · Track 12 · middle

The Hanged Man

RWS: a man hung by one ankle from a living T-cross, serene, a halo of light around his head, hands behind his back, one leg crossed into a four. Keywords: surrender, suspension, the reversed view, the pause that reveals, a sacrifice chosen not forced.

No audio yet — generation pending.

Lyrics

[Intro]


[Verse 1]
Grab the bark, my fingers strip
The living wood, the sudden pitch
I tied the hemp to my own left heel
To see how the edge of the panic would feel
The horizon flips, the sky is a door
I cross my right leg into a four

[Chorus]
And the blood rushes down to the crown of my skull
I’m suspended alive, the gravity dulls
Don't cut me down, don't touch the twine
The terror is a fever but the fever is a guide
There’s a halo of fire in the dirt where I stare
I’m terrified, I’m terrified, I'm breathing in the glare

[Verse 2]
Sixteen pennies slip out of my coat
Dropping upward into the clouds like a stone
Sinking into the blue, while I hang from the leaves
The strangest damn angle that I’ve ever reached
My vestibular nerve is screaming to right me

But the shadows below are starting to blind me

[Chorus]
And the blood rushes down to the crown of my skull
I’m suspended alive, the gravity dulls
Don't cut me down, don't touch the twine
The terror is a fever but the fever is a guide
There’s a halo of fire in the dirt where I stare
I’m terrified, I’m terrified, I'm breathing in the glare

[Bridge]
I could reach up and untie the knot if I chose
My hands aren't bound, I just keep them close
But if I stand up straight, the vision goes thin
I need the weight pulling the shape from my skin
Let the T-cross creak, let the rough rope bite

[Outro]
Leave me inverted to swallow the light
I’m not a captive, I’m a lens
Where the world breaks apart...

I’m upside down.
The sky is the ground.
Don't cut me...
Just leave the rope.
Pick a song