Song 75: Grateful

Lyrics

[Intro]

[Verse 1 — Chronos]
I have catalogued every loss
For eleven billion years
And the catalogue is heavy
And the shelving is not great

But this evening
I'm putting the catalogue down
Not closing it — it doesn't close —
Just setting it on the floor
Beside my chair
Where I can see it
Without holding it

And picking up instead
The smaller book
The one with no spine
Because it doesn't need one
Because it's light enough
To hold in one hand
While the other hand
Holds a glass

The book of what remained

[Pre-Chorus — Chronos]
And what remained
After the wound
After the jealousy and the codependence
And the obsession and the grief
Was not nothing
Was in fact
The opposite of nothing
Was a table
With two women
And a Titan
And a bottle
That someone opened
Without occasion
Which is the best reason
To open anything

[Chorus — All Three]
L'amour reconnaissant, l'amour reconnaissant
The love that counts what's left and finds it good
L'amour reconnaissant, l'amour reconnaissant
Not because the wound was worth it
But because the wound is closed now
And the scar is thin
And the table is still here
And the bread is warm
And the company
Didn't leave
When the company
Had every reason to

Thank you
Is not a large enough word
But it's the one we have
And we're using it tonight
With both hands

[Verse 2 — Sisukiro]
I am grateful for the small things
Which turned out to be the large things
In a poor disguise

The way the morning sounds
When someone else is already awake
The particular clink
Of a spoon against a cup
In another room
That means
You are not the first one up
And the not being first
Is a luxury
The size of a country
That you only recognize
When it's taken away

[Verse 3 — Orikusis]
Tôi biết ơn bà ngoại
I am grateful for the grandmother
Who carried the recipe
Through the war
So that I could stand
In a Parisian kitchen
And make the soup
That tastes like a village
That no longer exists
Except in the broth
Except on the tongue
Except in the way
My hands move
Without thinking
The same way hers moved

And the hands are the gratitude
The moving is the thank you
The soup is the love letter
I can never send
And serve instead
Every Sunday
To anyone who shows up

[Chorus — All Three]
L'amour reconnaissant, l'amour reconnaissant
The love that counts what's left and finds it good
L'amour reconnaissant, l'amour reconnaissant
Not despite the wound — alongside it
The scar and the table
The loss and the bread
The catalogue and the glass
All here
All held
All grateful

[Bridge — All Three, simple]


The still being here
Is the whole thing

[Outro]