Eight Verses
Simon Joyner Lyrics

Midnight nears the clock clicks its heels
As it gets closer to midnight, the clock's ticking sound becomes more pronounced and decisive.

And the birds go wandering home
Birds return to their nests as nighttime approaches.

To empty nests in cardboard houses
Birds return to their nests, which are often made out of found objects and materials.

Built on vapour smoke and foam
Birds build their nests from flimsy and insubstantial materials they find in their environment.

Where furniture and flesh court dust and rust
The interior of the nest, which can be seen as a metaphor for the home, accumulates dust and begins to show signs of wear and decay over time.

Together and alone
Birds live together in their nests, but each bird is ultimately responsible for their own well-being and survival.

Like trees falling into the forest no one listens
The decay of the nest and the decay of the forest, which can also be seen as a metaphor for the world in general, occurs without any intervention or attention from humans or other creatures.

What happens in the night time
The artist is questioning what occurs during the night, specifically after the sun sets.

After the sun washes its hands
The artist sees the setting sun as a deliberate act- almost as if it is washing its hands of the day's events before relinquishing control to the nighttime.

Of everything yellow light prevents
Yellow light, which the sun emits, prevents certain things from occurring.

From the dangers of the dance
The nighttime is seen here as a dance that is inherently dangerous and unpredictable.

Of darkness uninhibited
Darkness is often seen as an all-encompassing force that cannot be contained or controlled.

Do you even want to take that chance
The singer is questioning whether or not it is worth taking the risk of engaging with the unknown dangers of the night.

You might end up on a list of missing persons
The singer is warning that the dangers of the night are real and should not be taken lightly- death or disappearance is a real possibility.

Black crows beckon from their ledges
The singer is drawing attention to the behavior of black crows, who often perch in high places and make raucous sounds.

High above the ground
Crows often perch in high places, such as ledges or treetops, where they can survey their surroundings more easily.

They shake the quiet they've gathered
The crows' sounds are jarring enough to break the peace and quiet that the other creatures and objects in the environment have accumulated.

From their wings and scratch out sounds
The crows' sounds are described as being harsh and jarring, almost like scratching or clawing noises.

Which terrify all passers by
The sounds of the crows are enough to scare anyone who happens to be passing by.

The truth is hard to hear once it's found
The artist is making a general statement about the difficulty of discovering and accepting the truth.

Then they swoop like angels burned off Jacob's ladder
Jacob's ladder is a biblical reference to a dream Jacob has in which angels are ascending and descending a ladder to and from heaven. The crows in the song are depicted as swooping down from a high perch, almost like angels descending from the heavens.

The holy man announced his plan
The artist is referencing a religious figure who has announced his intentions.

To turn wine back to water
This line is a reference to the story of Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding. The holy man in the song is attempting to reverse this process.

He was strung up by the drunken mob
The crowd, who are themselves drunk, punish the holy man for his hubris by hanging him up.

Chanting the time for miracles is over
The crowd has lost faith in the possibilities of magical or miraculous events occurring.

The wrapped his body in newspaper
The holy man's body is treated disrespectfully and indifferently after his death- it is wrapped in the material that was used to start the fire that burned him.

And burned him in the words he could not alter
The spoken words of the holy man, which are perhaps considered sacred, are burned along with his body.

Saying unto a mirror one should never try to flatter
The act of trying to flatter one's reflection in a mirror is seen as being pointless and foolish.

Sunlight rummages the beach
The sunlight is described as 'rummaging' the beach, perhaps digging up and illuminating what was previously hidden.

And cleans out hollow shells
The sunlight is seen as both illuminating the beach and cleaning out the hollow spaces within seashells.

The sand flames sufficiently heating
The sand, which has been heated by the sun, is said to 'flame' or be sufficiently hot to cause a burning sensation.

The shadows of lonely souls
The artist is drawing attention to the shadows that are created by the sun's light. These shadows are described as belonging to 'lonely souls'- perhaps the people who are walking on the beach.

Walking on the fringes of waves
The people on the beach are walking on the edge of where the waves come in, where the dry sand meets the wet sand.

Which pounce and fade farewell
The waves are described as 'pouncing' on the beach-goers and then 'fading farewell'- perhaps indicating that the waves are personified, or that the beach-goers themselves are saying goodbye to the ebb and flow of the tide.

To spoil a hope which springs eternally on the surface
The hope that is being referred to here is perhaps the hope for good weather, or the hope for a certain kind of experience. That hope is dashed by the realization that the waves and the sand will always be there, and that the experience is not as unique or special as it may have seemed.

The scientific poet dresses up
The artist is describing a person who is both scientific and poetic in their outlook.

His images with the facts
This person is able to use facts and scientific knowledge to enhance their poetry and descriptions of the world around them.

He hangs on chains from certificates
This person has achieved some sort of recognition or validation for their scientific work.

In silver frames behind smoked glass
The certificates and awards are displayed in a formal way, behind smoked glass so as to protect them from wear and tear.

He writes everything that has yet to occur
The scientific poet is able to predict future events with a high degree of accuracy.

Has already happened in the past
The things that are happening in the present or will happen in the future have happened before in some way, perhaps in a different form or context.

We elevate wise men by digging ditches
The singer is criticizing the way that society values certain kinds of work over others. In this case, people who are seen as 'wise' or 'smart' are valued more highly than people who do manual labor.

Soldiers fill their pales with steam
The soldiers in this line are seen as being very tough and self-sufficient, as they are able to fill their own pails without assistance.

For bulletshell-like spines
The soldiers' spines are seen as being as tough and hard as bullet shells.

While trees live and die repeatedly in rings
Trees grow and age in a circular pattern, with each ring of an older tree representing a year of its life.

Which mark the march of time
Each ring in a tree's trunk marks the passage of time, representing a year of growth and change.

It crawls by slowly for those entrenched
Time seems to move more slowly for those who are stuck in a certain mindset or place- they are not able to progress or grow as quickly as others might.

And for others it speeds unkind
For others, time seems to speed up and pass by too quickly- they are unable to accomplish everything they want to in the time they have.

While soliloquies to skulls become confessions
When speaking to a skull, one is essentially speaking to a dead person. This line could be seen as an acknowledgement of the inevitability of death and the fact that we are all essentially talking to ourselves.

The box we would have distance hold
The 'box' here could be a metaphor for an idea or a construct. The singer is saying that we want to keep our ideas and convictions at a distance, to examine them from a detached point of view.

A lifetime without blame
The singer wants their lifetime, which is perhaps represented by the box, to be without blame or responsibility.

Is too heavy for the skyway
The box, which represents a life without blame or responsibility, is too weighty to be carried on the 'skyway' or path of higher learning and enlightenment.

Without faith-chariots and chains
The things that are necessary to carry the box along the skyway are 'faith-chariots and chains,' which could be seen as a metaphor for religious faith or spiritual beliefs.

Although it bloomed on an ancient tongue
This line could be referencing a particular idea, belief, or language that is ancient in origin.

Nothing yet from nothing ever came
This line can be interpreted in a number of ways, but at its core, it is expressing the idea that nothing can come from nothing- that in order for something to exist, something else must exist as well.

We bury our answers six feet beneath our questions
The artist is saying that we tend to bury or hide the answers to our questions, perhaps because we are uncomfortable with the truths they reveal.