BABY BIRCH
CAPO 2

    C5                F5
this is the song for Baby Birch
       A5          F5         C5
though i will never know you
    C5               F5
and at the back of what we've done
      A5               F5       C5
there is the knowledge of you

         C5                  F5
well, i wish we could take every path
              A5            F5          C5
could spend a hundred years adoring you
      C5                      F5
yes, i wish we could take every path
          A5                 F5          C5
because i hated to close the door on you

       C5                F5            
do you remember staring up at the stars
    A5               F5            C5
so far away in their bulletproof cars?
        C5                  F5
when we heard the rushing, slow intake
        A5                     F5      C5
of the dark, dark water in the engine brakes?

          C5                               F5
and i said to you, "well, how about them engine brakes?"
      A5             F5      C5
and if i should die before i wake,
         C5              F5  
Will you keep an eye on Baby Birch?
            A5                            F5      C5
because i'd hate to see her make the same mistake

            A5                 C5
when it was dark, i called and you came
            A5       C5
when it was dark, i saw shapes
              A5              C5     
when I see stars, i feel in your hand
          A5             C5
and I see stars, and I reel again.

 
     C5               F5
Well mercy me. I'll be goddamned.
             A5        
It's been a long, long time
F5            C5
since I last saw you.
     C5            F5
And I have never known the plan.
            A5
It's been a long, long time.
F5       C5
How are you?
     C5                    F5
Your eyes are green. Your hair is gold.
     A5              F5            C5
Your hair is black. Your eyes are blue.
   C5                      F5
I closed the ranks, and I doubled back?
                  A5
but, you know, I hated to close
 F5            C5
the door on you.

          A5                C5
We take a walk along the dirty lake.
Hear the goose,
A5                   C5
cussing at me over her eggs.
                A5
You poor little cousin.
                  C5
I don't want your dregs
               A5               C5
(A little baby fussing all over my legs).
              
             A5
There is a blacksmith,
and there is a shepherd,
and there is a butcher-boy,
                C5
and there is a barber, who's cutting
and cutting away at my only joy.
       A5
I saw a rabbit,
as slick as a knife,
and as pale as a candlestick,
           C5
and I had thought it'd be harder to do,
but I caught her, and skinned her quick:
held her there,
A5
kicking and mewling, 
upended, unspooling, unsung and blue;
          C5
told her "wherever you go,
little runaway bunny,
I will find you."
             A5
And then she ran,
                     C5
as they're liable to do.

             A5      C5
Be at peace, baby, and begone. 

A5 , C5 to fade