Bear's Vision Of St. Agnes

	  		


 

Verses: 


Bm                         G 
Barren rocks and sand, our wooden sculpture hands, 
            Bm            D     (Em)          G  
held like a timber hitch, held candles to the sun 
Bm                         G 
Both faint and fading fast, we walked on, windward 
                 Bm           D      (Em)        G 
kept time with a pocketmouse, mouths kept mostly shut 
Bm                               G 
Thought broke the silence like a bone 
                                        Bm 
half-moaned: "you've worn me like an albatross, 
D    (Em)            G 
I've only slowed you down. 


Bm                                         G                    
You could've long traded in your braided crown  
                               Bm              D   (Em)                 G 
by now you could've found that Anabaptist girl you always used to go on about 
Bm                           G 
As we rode in circles on our bicycles; 
             Bm           D  (Em)           G 
we walked on balance beams as the audience cheered for us 
Bm                           G 
We burned like fevers under carriage hats 
           Bm 
hid behind Venetian masks 
D  (Em)          G 
In our human costumes 

Bm                             G 
We stood like statues once in shepherd's check 
                        Bm 
we'll both be decked in herringbone, 
D       (Em)        G 
wrapped border drab around already broken ironstone" 
Bm                     
"But I've seen these cliffs before, 
G                                           Bm 
St. Agnes brought her palm branch to the hospital 
D      (Em)             G 
looked upward lest the charm had fled 

from my brother's breathing bed 



Bm                          G 
And when he died I shut his dogtooth violet eyes: 
                    Bm 
He looked just like me 
 D    (Em)         G 
climb on down and see 
Bm                         G 
they laid him on the rocks below 
                                Bm 
there'll be enough to fill your cup for days 
D     (Em)              G 
I'll stay up here and rest. 



Bm                                      G 
We'll fly in straight lines as from carronades 
                  Bm         D      (Em)      G 
we'll crash like tidal waves, decimate the islands 
Bm                                 G 
As our hollowed lumber falls like water, ends where I start 
                Bm         D   (Em)        G 
In that tattered rag shop back in Asbury Park 


 
Bm F#m 
Em Bm 

Look how soon my hands won't move 
but if you'll improve, we'll all improve 
Sixty feet and my feet won't move 
but if you'll improve, we'll all improve 
Forty feet, my legs won't move 
but as you improve, we all improve 
Fill our den with acorn mast, 
I'll wake before the salmon pass 
Ten foot more and nothing moves"