Queen of Cups

Lyrics

[Intro]

[Verse 1]
You bring me all your spilled things.
I sit here where the carpet meets the tile,
letting the tide of your bad months
wash right up to my ankles for a while.
I nod, I hum, I pour the chamomile,
I let you weep your winter out on me.
You say I am a mirror made of glass,
reflecting back the best of what you see.

[Chorus]
But look at the heavy brass thing in my hands.
Look at the way I am holding it shut.
I am the safest harbor on the coast,
I’ll take the rain, I’ll take the ghost,
but this one vessel stays closed up.
It is the only lid in the whole damn deck.
And nobody gets to look inside.

[Verse 2]
I found it at a yard sale down on Main.
Eleven dollars, tarnished at the hinge,
two little angels carved into the handles,
guarding a hollow I don't have to share.
You talk about your mother and your rent,
I give you every drop of sympathy I’ve got,
watching the water rise around the chair,
but my thumbs are pressing down upon this top.

[Chorus]
Look at the heavy brass thing in my hands.
Look at the way I am holding it shut.
I am the safest harbor on the coast,
I’ll take the rain, I’ll take the ghost,
but this one vessel stays closed up.

[Bridge]
What’s in it? Just the air I breathe.
Just the quiet when you finally leave.
Maybe it’s empty. Maybe it’s a flood.
Maybe it’s the pattern I trace when I’m alone,
trying to read the shape of my own blood.
You think because I’m gentle, I am known.

[Chorus]
But look at the heavy brass thing in my hands.
Look at the way I am holding it shut.
I am the safest harbor on the coast,
I’ll take the rain, I’ll take the ghost,
but this one vessel stays...

[Outro]
It stays right here.
Water creeping up the legs of the throne.
Keep talking, darling. I’m listening.
But this one is mine.