Revisited - The Antlers

When some unfamiliar faces came to shop in our old house

I didn’t bother trying to stop them until they emptied it out

I was standing by the front door, stuffing cash in a jar

Taking payment for our failures, I only wanted to alarm you

So when they asked me for directions, I sold them our map

I sold our shovels and our flashlights

They took our duffel bag with a ton of room, but a broken strap

The hungry patrons hit the graveyard, I lit a joint in the house

Where there was nothing but our mattress and the same soft shelter of sheets,

where nobody found us

I let them strip your mausoleum so nothing was left

But they forgot to close the casket

They sent you shivering to my doorstep

Gently clawing at my window when I was less than awake

I slid it up for you to slither through

I heard you howling, «Just take me!

Just take me to the rusty city we perfected

That holy summer we first found!»

The place you’re stubbornly protecting is the only pretty thing that we own now

And we can stay here to wither in your garden of Eden

But your fantasy’s a prison and you’re serving a sentence you can’t stop

repeating

Can you see the secret exit?

The false wall in obsession?

You’ll only fit through the doorway when you relinquish your possessions

So leave everything you’ve stolen that you can’t give back

And don’t replace what you’ve been missing until you know what you’re lacking

Leave everything you’ve borrowed and kept for yourself

You can’t unbreak our broken leases holding on to broken pieces, so return them!

No guilt, no sorry speeches