Lustrum

Lyrics

[Intro]


[Verse 1]
I sit in the shadow of the temple wall,
The wooden tablet heavy on my knees.
I tally up the grain, the summer fall,
The cattle and the olive trees.
My thumb already knows the strokes for 'Gaius'
Before the farmer even clears his throat.
I take his life and turn it to a measure,
And press it deep into the wax I wrote.

[Chorus]
Then we lead the ram around the gathered square.
We burn the pine and let the altar smoke.
We read the final ledger to the air,
And wash the heavy numbers that we spoke.
Cut the cord and let the water run,
The river takes the fat and takes the ash.
We count the living till the math is done,
And pay for knowing with the splash.

[Verse 2]
The weaver from the valley isn't here this time.
Last time, she had a husband and a loom.
I draw a horizontal in the grime,
And leave a little empty room.
There is a quiet terror in the rolls,
In tying up a city in a string.
In drafting up the bodies and the souls,
And putting boundaries on everything.

[Bridge]
A boar, a sheep, a heavy-shouldered bull.
They circle us to make the edges clean.
Because a page that we have written full
Is holding more than mortal men should mean.
You cannot weigh a man without a stain.
To own the count, you have to take the blame.

[Chorus]
So we lead the ram around the gathered square.
We burn the pine and let the altar smoke.
We read the final ledger to the air,
And wash the heavy numbers that we spoke.
Cut the cord and let the water run,
The river takes the fat and takes the ash.
We count the living till the math is done,
And pay for knowing with the splash.

[Outro]
The wax is smoothed to flat.
The smoke is drifting west.

The ledger sleeps.

We let the numbers rest.
Until the altar wakes,
To count what's left.