Track 2 of the album Small Kindnesses · 2020
Reading Glasses in the Cardigan Pocket
“I found them folded in a cardigan, with a tissue and a spool of thread. That was the whole song, really.”
acoustic · keepsake folk · cosy acoustic · 5:05
Lyrics
I found them in the cardigan, the grey one by the door Reading glasses folded small, a tissue and a spool Of thread the colour of the sea she never learned to swim in Still smelling faintly of the rose soap by the sink The kettle's on, the radio is low I put them on to read the page she left half-turned Everything is blurry and a little bit too bright But I can see the pencil mark she made beside the line Oh, small things keep the shape of those we love A button and a bookmark and a glove I will keep the pocket as it was And let the quiet hold me, warm and slow Small things keep the shape of those we love The cat sits in the armchair where the cushion holds her dent The afternoon comes slanting through the curtains like a hand I will not tidy everything, not yet, not yet today There's time enough for sorting when the light has gone away Oh, small things keep the shape of those we love A button and a bookmark and a glove I will keep the pocket as it was And let the quiet hold me, warm and slow Small things keep the shape of those we love Some days I laugh out loud at what she wrote In the margins of the crosswords, all those clever little notes Some days I only sit here with the lamp And the glasses on my knee, and that is fine, that is fine Oh, small things keep the shape of those we love A button and a bookmark and a glove I will keep the pocket as it was And let the quiet hold me, warm and slow Small things keep the shape of those we love Grey cardigan, grey cardigan Hang there by the door a while Grey cardigan, grey cardigan Hang there by the door