A Thousand Throws

[Verse 1]
The bag of St Agnes clay, cold on the lino floor.
Winter of seventeen, ghosts outside the door.
A hundred slumped failures, my knuckles raw and split.
Just a grey smear on the boards, that's the whole of it.

[Chorus 1]
Slow turn on the axis, a pressure of the thumb.
And the shape begins to hold, where the quiet has come.

[Verse 2]
You came in from the mizzle, smelling of salt and the docks.
Wiped the slip from my cheek, against the ticking of the clocks.
Said "It's the colour of the shallows, back on Mahé."
And then you just let me be, and I let you walk away.

[Chorus 2]
Slow turn on the axis, a pressure of the thumb.
And the celadon holds, where the quiet has come.

[Bridge]
That tiny hairline fracture, a perfect salt line scar.
Proof that I could make one thing, stay what you are.

[Chorus 3]
Slow turn on the axis, a pressure of the thumb.
And the memory holds, now the quiet has come.

[Outro]
(wordless vocalizations)
Now the quiet has come...