Track 1 of the EP Before the Stallholders Wake · 2016
The Hand That Wrote Your Name
“A love letter folded small and softened by years in a winter coat. I think of it as the EP's front door.”
art song · art song · romantic ballad · 4:46
Lyrics
I found it in the lining of an old winter coat Folded small and softened by the years Your handwriting leaning like a tree in the wind Every loop and every line still near The ink has gone brown like the tea we used to drink The paper smells faintly of rain I trace every letter with the tip of one finger And you are in the room again Slowly, slowly, read it slow Some things only warm when they're old Oh, the hand that wrote your name Is the hand that wrote my heart Every curl of every letter Is a place where we're not apart Time can fade the ink to amber But it cannot fade the flame Oh, the hand that wrote your name Wrote me home again You signed it with a flourish and a small crooked star A joke that only I would know I laugh and I cry at the kitchen window While the evening lamps begin to glow Slowly, slowly, read it slow Some things only warm when they're old Oh, the hand that wrote your name Is the hand that wrote my heart Every curl of every letter Is a place where we're not apart Time can fade the ink to amber But it cannot fade the flame Oh, the hand that wrote your name Wrote me home again I will not write back, there is no one to send to But I'll hold the page against my chest And the whole quiet house is full of your voice And the quiet is a kind of rest Oh, the hand that wrote your name Is the hand that wrote my heart Every curl of every letter Is a place where we're not apart Time can fade the ink to amber But it cannot fade the flame Oh, the hand that wrote your name Wrote me home again Wrote me home Wrote me home again