
Date of issue: 27.08.2020
Record label: American, Loma Vista, The Avett Brothers
Song language: English
The Fire |
A young child sits quiet, the forest is dark |
Possibilities overflow his unbroken heart |
I ask him well after the brush takes the spark |
What do you see in the fire? |
I see light within color and color in light |
Trophies I’ll take home, and battles I’ll fight |
A bright blue horizon with no pain in sight |
I’ll be there and so will my parents and you’re invited too |
A life-sentence inmate in orange prisoner clothes |
Who’s been told his whole life «that's just how it goes» |
Who came out swinging from poverty row |
Sits a bit close to the dangerous glow |
What do ya see in the fire? |
I see rich people laughin' with food on their plates |
And neighborhood bullies imprinted with hate |
Moms and dads screaming at each other insane |
And hard grey redemption a little too late |
And I see myself as I might’ve been |
I’m handsome and capable and funny |
A young woman in college entranced by the flames |
Is pondering silent how perfectly strange |
A girl could be called by so many names |
And not one be the one she was given |
What do you see in the fire? |
I see myself in the mirror, not pretty enough |
And digital images reducing love |
My roommate enslaved by expectations above |
And then I see the face of my mother |
A first year preacher stands on his feet |
His love for man kind is true and complete |
While the frigid wind blows through the trees |
I ask, as he leans away from the heat |
What do you see in the fire? |
I see swirling confusion, question, and loss |
And I know all about Christ and the cross |
But I cannot explain the holocaust |
I stuttered when a young man asked me to |
I just couldn’t find the words |
A woman of ninety with wisdom in spades |
Her mind still as sharp as her kitchen blades |
I ask as her memory nonetheless fades |
What do you see in the fire? |
I see the touch of my husband who recently passed |
Our hometown before the roads got so fast |
And I see it now in an impatient blur |
And I see how in love we were |
I see the good Lord offering mercy |
I see the good Lord offering mercy |
I see the good Lord offering mercy |
Someone I care for, she sits by my side |
I can feel the past and the future collide |
She leans in and whispers: «don't think just decide |
What do you see in the fire?» |
I see the faces of my victims whose hearts I once broke |
Calm and alive in the curling smoke |
All I can do is sit here and hope |
They may find a way to forgive me |
There’s something unspoken there in your eyes |
A pain or a love I don’t recognize |
I better ask you now before it dies |
What do you see in the fire? |
Name | Year |
---|---|
Head Full Of Doubt/Road Full Of Promise | 2008 |
Smithsonian | 2016 |
Winter In My Heart | 2011 |
The Traveling Song | 2008 |
Murder in the City | 2008 |
No Hard Feelings | 2016 |
Kick Drum Heart | 2008 |
Ain't No Man | 2016 |
If It's The Beaches | 2006 |
Live And Die | 2011 |
I And Love And You | 2015 |
Back Into The Light | 2020 |
C Sections and Railway Trestles | 2019 |
Tell The Truth | 2019 |
We Americans | 2019 |
Long Story Short | 2019 |
Bleeding White | 2019 |
Pretty Girl from Matthews | 2002 |
Jenny and the Summer Day | 2002 |
Another Is Waiting | 2012 |