Cypress Cracks

[Verse 1]
October '89, the Sony deck just hums
“Your bougainvillea’s strangling my plums,” he says
Mr. Henderson, mad about the roots again
Tracing fault lines across the garden fence
Such a tiny war, the sixteenth day of fall
You both had no idea about the weight of it all

[Chorus]
And all that pretty ivy runs
Through the cracks they couldn't see beneath the sun
The little tremors everybody got used to
'Til the ground decides it's through with you

[Verse 2]
Then your voice on the tape, worn thin and sweet
Berbere on your hands, the sound of your feet
“*Yene konjo*, it’s just a vine,” I hear you sigh
While the 5:04 BART train rumbles by on high
Pruning back the branches with your kitchen shears
Deaf to the silence of the coming years

[Chorus]
And all that pretty ivy runs
Through the cracks they couldn't see beneath the sun
The rumble on the double-decker freeway span
Was just another part of the neighborhood plan

[Bridge]
The tape clicks off, I'm just sitting in the hum
Of this refrigerator, feeling my thumbs go numb
Rewind the part where he complains, and you just laugh
Before the sky fell on that overpass

[Chorus]
And all my protective anger runs
Through the cracks you couldn't see beneath the sun
And I'm screaming at this dusty little cassette tape
To warn you of the concrete's final shape

[Outro]
Rewinding the part where you laugh
Just rewinding the part…