Lyrics Matchstick Maker - Bowerbirds

Matchstick Maker

Dredge the Cedar River
For a previous life
Or scour the cliffs above
In search of lost time
And you’ll never find the body
As the Palisades crumble slowly
And claim the past as their own
Branded skin, broken vessel
Took a job in the city
Making matchsticks
To start other men’s fires
Oh
Gorgeous blooms on these cliffs
Midst a battery of sticks and twigs
Gravity toils away
Blisters on its hands from tightening ropes all day
Lashing down all it sees
But its pull is like a father’s and not like a king’s
And the rule of the land is more like a strong suggestion
As this strong current begs for the open ocean
Branded skin, broken vessel
Took a job in the city
making matchsticks
To start other men’s fires