What I Was Afraid Of · Track 6 · middle
English longbow
English longbow — Medieval English war bow. Register: ancient. This song is sung BY this weapon, in first person, about the one thing IT was afraid of. Find the fear that is true of this specific object, not a generic one.
No audio yet — generation pending.
Lyrics
[Intro] [Verse 1] I was cut from the shadow of a churchyard yew, Sapwood and heartwood, married in the grain. You didn't just lift me, you grew into my truth, A boy in the wet grass, learning how to strain. I demanded your Sundays, the decree of the crown, Every hour of the daylight until the sun went down. Before your mind decided, the hemp was in your hand. [Chorus] I am one hundred and thirty pounds of pull. I am the master of the long, gray rain. I didn't just take the lives across the field— I pulled your left scapula an inch out of line, I took your shoulder, I took your spine. I needed you devoted. I needed you mine. [Verse 2] Now I am resting on a velvet rack, Looking through the glass at the faces walking past. Men with soft shoulders and a hurried track, Who never had to hold a breath and make it last. They stare at my length, they read the little plate, But they can't comprehend what it meant to take the weight. I look at their hands, so unblemished and straight, And I wonder when the killing became so lightly made. [Chorus] For I was one hundred and thirty pounds of pull. I was the master of the long, gray rain. I didn't just take the lives across the field— I pulled your left scapula an inch out of line, I took your shoulder, I took your spine. I needed you devoted. I needed you mine. [Bridge] That is the terror of the iron tube. The powder and the lead that requires no art. Any untrained boy can strike a sudden spark, Any frightened child can stop a beating heart. They made it so easy, they made it so cheap. I made you earn the harvest that we went to reap. [Outro] I twisted your skeleton to fit my shape. You gave me your body, bone by bone. And they traded us in. For a flash in a pan. For a twitch of a finger... That doesn't even feel what it has done.