Talent

Lyrics

I watched you dig the hole out by the western fence line,
Just past the roots of the dying oak tree.
You dragged the burlap sack, dropping your left shoulder,
Your muscles bracing for the mass before your eyes could see.
It takes two hands to lift it from the wagon,
A solid block of fortune that you never asked to hold.
You bought a brand new spade just for the occasion,
To keep it from the thieves and keep it from the cold.

Oh, the things we are given to carry.
The heavy white metal of what we could be.
You wrap it in linen, you hide it in clay,
Safe from the market and the master’s decree.
But a talent in the earth is just a stone with a name,
And it breaks a man's back just the same.

The merchant's scale is a cold and righteous judge.
It balances copper, it balances sweat.
But this block of silver is too big for the counter,
It’s a terrifying wager, an impossible debt.
You saw the green-black bloom on the ingot's rim,
Where the air had started eating at the edge of the prize.
So you chose the quiet dark of the loam over him,
And the dirt fell like a curtain on a stage play of lies.

Oh, the things we are given to carry.
The heavy white metal of what we could be.
You wrap it in linen, you hide it in clay,
Safe from the market and the master’s decree.
But a talent in the earth is just a stone with a name,
And it breaks a man's back just the same.

I preach on Sundays about multiplying grace.
I talk of the singer, the builder, the plow.
But I know the sheer dead density of silver,
I know why you wipe the sweat from your brow.

It isn't spite that makes you bury the trust.
It’s the terror of the wager. It’s the fear of the rust.

So pack down the topsoil and brush off your knees.
Leave it down there with the worms and the damp.
Walk back to the house with your empty, light hands,
And light up the oil in a regular lamp.
A perfectly measured, immaculate burden,
Too heavy to lose, and too heavy to hold.

Leave it in the ground.

Let the dirt keep the ledger.
It’s a terrible thing, to be given a measure.
Just a stone with a name.
Just a stone, now.