The Trees Don't Read The Lancet

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
The plane trees along the canal
are doing their annual undressing
dropping leaves like a woman
removing jewelry
after a long dinner —
bracelet first, then earrings
then the necklace that was holding
the whole outfit together
I come here Wednesdays
when the park empties
after the school groups leave
and before the runners arrive
There's a window between two and four
when the Buttes-Chaumont
belongs to the pigeons
and to me
and neither of us
has an agenda
[Pre-Chorus]
I know what the trees are doing to me
I can feel my cortisol dropping
like a hem being let out
and I resent knowing this
because knowing
is the opposite of what the trees
are offering
[Chorus]
The trees don't read The Lancet
The birds don't cite their sources
The lake doesn't need
a control group
to know that it is beautiful
and I am trying
to stand here
without measuring anything
and my hands
are in my pockets
which is where they go
when they're not allowed
to be useful
[Verse 2]
The linden trees are releasing phytoncides
which are volatile compounds
that reduce cortisol
and increase natural killer cell activity
and I know this
the way a chef knows
the boiling point of sugar —
professionally, reflexively
and completely beside the point
when you're just trying to eat the crème brûlée
The chestnut by the grotto
has a root system
that has been solving problems
I will never be asked about
for four hundred years
It doesn't need a grant
It doesn't publish
It just — continues
[Pre-Chorus]
I know what the light is doing
to my serotonin receptors
The particular amber
of October through plane tree leaves
is 590 nanometers approximately
and my brain converts it
to something I insist
on calling peace
even though I could name
every receptor involved
[Chorus]
The trees don't read The Lancet
The birds don't cite their sources
The lake doesn't need
a control group
to know that it is beautiful
and I am trying
to stand here
without measuring anything
and my hands
are in my pockets
which is where they go
when they're not allowed
to be useful
[Bridge]
A blackbird just sang
the same four notes
it sang last Wednesday
and the Wednesday before
I don't know
if it's the same blackbird
and for the first time
in a career built on identification
I don't need to know
Something is happening in this park
that my training
cannot improve upon
The chestnuts are older
The roots go deeper
The birds don't need a surgeon
The leaves are falling
at a rate I could calculate
and won't
This is the love
that asks me
to put the instrument down
and just listen to the body
that isn't on the table
The one that's standing here
in a park
in October
with her hands
in her pockets
being — just —
adequate
to the afternoon
[Final Chorus]
The trees don't read The Lancet
and they're doing fine
The birds don't cite their sources
and they're still singing
The lake doesn't need me
and I don't need the lake
but I keep showing up
on Wednesdays
between two and four
and the pigeons
have stopped flying away
which might be data
or might just be
a park
deciding I belong