Barleycorn

Lyrics

[Intro]

[Verse 1]
Press your heel against the metal back.
Keep your ankle straight. Don't curl your toes.
I watch the way the white bone shows
Beneath the summer skin, a fragile track.
I slide the wooden block until it meets the longest tip.
We used to trace the foot right in the mud.
Now we trust the dry goods in the sack.

[Chorus]
Plucked from the middle of the ear,
Round and heavy, stripped of husk.
We line the little bodies in the dust
To tell us how much room you take up here.
It’s the smallest thing a town could look upon
And agree to call the truth.
You're walking on the barleycorn.

[Verse 2]
Your left arch falls a little low,
A perfect shadow of your mother’s walk.
But the iron last doesn't want to talk
To family ghosts. It pulls the canvas taut.
My thumb knows the gap at the toe before I even push it in,
A habit in the muscle, not the mind.
I pull the laces tight across your instep, checking that
The leather isn't biting at your shin.

[Chorus]
Plucked from the middle of the ear,
Round and heavy, stripped of husk.
We line the little bodies in the dust
To tell us how much room you take up here.
It’s the smallest thing a town could look upon
And agree to call the truth.
You're walking on the barleycorn.

[Bridge]
It is a kindness, in a way.
A stranger in the north can cut the hide
And know the bloody, tender thing inside
Will have a place to rest at the close of day.
But we traded the shape of a crooked man
For a seed that sleeps in the dark.
And we trim the flesh to fit the mark.

[Outro]
Stand up now. Put your weight on it.
Does it pinch?
Just a little on the side.
Walk to the door.

Just the distance of a seed.
One seed more.