After Eliot
Johnny Flynn Lyrics

We shared the experience of being alive
We had a meaningful shared experience of living.

And then we took some tea
Afterwards, we had some tea to drink.

We finished up and all on a whim
We left the place spontaneously without much planning.

We talked as it was free
We spoke openly without worrying about time or cost.

When we went to get the bill
At the end, when we received the bill for our food and drink.

The lady looked us over
The woman looked at us carefully or suspiciously.

She told us, 'now you stay quite still
She instructed us to sit quietly and not move.

And I'll fetch in some clover'
She promised to bring us some clover, perhaps as a gesture of goodwill.

And all of the yellow melancholy
Everything seemed sad and depressing, with a yellow tint to it.

The world about grew stark
The world became barren and bleak, lacking in vibrancy.

The only sound in all of the place
The singular noise echoing in the area.

Was the singing of a lark
The only sound was the song of a lark bird.

Four boys they've been laughing at me
A group of boys had been mocking me or laughing in my direction.

The folds of my skin are frayed
My skin is aging and losing its elasticity.

I'm the oldest man I know by now
I am the oldest person I know currently.

I was the youngest yesterday
It feels like just yesterday I was the youngest person around.

What did I lose to mourn so long
What did I give up to feel grief for this long?

A worm in the heart has stained me
Something has caused me deep, lingering pain or sorrow.

Laying to rest in a ventricle
Stowed away in a part of the heart, one can try to avoid thinking about it.

Stirs when I take my tea
It is brought back to my awareness when I have tea.

I saw her once and she came upon the midday
I recall seeing her once, perhaps at noon.

And gave me both her hands
She reached out to me and held my hands.

It seemed while I was still dreaming of the waves
It felt like it happened while I was still dreaming about the ocean.

That she lived a while on land
It seemed like she had been living on land for some time.

Slipping through a stream of dark
Navigating through some situation, emotional or physical, where there is darkness.

The streets laid out a way
The streets had been devised in a certain pattern for a specific purpose.

Stayed above the level
I remained stoic or calm, keeping an even temperament.

Kept my wondering heart at bay
I suppressed my feelings of curiosity or wonderment.

In the sea feeling in the land I was daily dealing
I dealt with a deep, pervasive feeling in my environment on a day-to-day basis.

There's a turn of a twisting smile
Someone had a smile that was manipulated or deceitful.

Cheap is your time now tea don't taste so fine
Life may feel diminished or less exciting, like a poor-quality tea.

How are you, it's been a while
It's been a long time, how have you been doing?

Cold as the window frozen with frost
As cold as a windowpane encrusted with frost.

Holly go lightly bright as the day
A bright, cheerful entity, like the holly plant.

Fresh as the moon and stale as the hay
Something simultaneously new and old, with varying levels of appeal.

Cold as the moon and stale as the hay
Something uninviting, distant, and old.

Fresh as the window frozen with frost
Something clean and crisp, like a new windowpane with frost on it.

You never been seen and you never been lost
Something that's always been there, and can't be lost.