verse 1 
                C 
From the top of the flight 
Em              C 
Of the wide white stairs 
Em              C 
Through the rest of my life 
Em              C 
Do you wait for me there? 
Em              C 
There's a bell in my ears 
Em              C 
There's the wide white roar 
Em              C 
Drop a bell down the stairs 
Em              C 
Hear it fall forever mor 
Em              C 
Hear it fall forevermore 


[Refrão]
 G               Em 
Drop a bell off of the dock 
G               Em 
Blot it out in the sea 
G               Em 
Drowning mute as a rock 
G               Em 
sounding mutiny 
G 
There's a light in the wings, hits this system of strings, 
                            Em 
from the side while they swing; 
See the wires, the wires, the wires. 

Verse  
G 
And the articulation in our elbows and knees 
Em 
Makes us buckle and we couple in endless increase 
As the audience admires 
G 
And the little white dove 
Made with love, made with love 
Em 
Made with glue and a glove and some pliers 
G 
Swings a low sickle arc from its perch in the dark 
Em 
Settle down, settle down my desire 


[Refrão]
D 
And the moment I slept 
C                       G 
I was swept up in a terrible tremor 
D                               C 
Though no longer bereft, how I shook 
                 Em 
And i couldn't remember 
D 
And then the furthermost shake 
Am 
Drove a murdering stake in 
C               Em             G 
And cleft me right down through my center 
D 
And I shouldn't say so 
C                       Em 
But I know that it was then or never 
G               Em 
Push me back into a tree 
G               Em 
Bind my buttons with salt 
G               Em 
Fill my long ears with bees 
G 
Braying 'please, please, please, 
                Em 
Oh you ought not! 
No you ought not!' 
G 
And then the system of strings tugs on the tip of my wings 
                             Em 
Cut from cardboard and old magazines 
Makes me warble and rise like a sparrow. 
G 
And in the place where I stood 
There is a circle of wood 
                         Em 
A quarter to which you chop and you stack in your barrow 
G 
And it is terribly good 
To carry water and chop wood 
                          Em 
Streaked with soot, heavy booted and wild-eyed 
G 
As I crash through the rafters 
And the ropes and the pulleys trail after 
                                        Em 
And the holiest, holiest belfry burns sky high 

Verse 
D 
And then a slow lip of fire 
C                       G 
Moves across the prairie with precision 
                                        C 
While somewhere with your pliers and glue 
                                     Em 
You make your first incision 
D                       A 
And in a moment of almost unbearable vision 
C                       Em                     G 
Doubled over with the hunger of lions 
D 
'Hold me close', cooed the dove 
          C                             Em 
Who was stuffed now with sawdust and diamonds 


[Refrão]
Em              D                              G 
A       C      G 
I wanted to say 'why the long face?' 
A            C                         G 
Sparrow perch and play songs of long face 
A        C             G 
Burro buck and bray songs of long face 
                     Am                 C 
Sings 'i will swallow your sadness and eat your cold clay 
G 
Just to lift your long face 
A                               C 
And though it may be madness, I will take to the grave 
G 
Your precious long face 
A                                       C 
& though our bones they may break & our souls separate 
G 
Why the long face? 
                        A               C 
And though our bodies recoil from the grip of the soil 
G 
Why the long face? 

Bridge 
G                             Em 
In the trough of the waves 
G                             Em 
Which are pawing like dogs 
G                             Em 
Pitch we, pale-faced and grave 
G                             Em 
As I write in my log. 
G                             Em 
Then I hear a noise from the hull 
G                             Em 
Seven days out to sea 
G                             Em 
And it is the damnable bell 
G 
And it tolls, I believe, that it tolls 
              Em 
It tolls for me! 
And it tolls for me! 
G 
And though my wrists and my waist 
Seem so easy to break 
              Em 
Still my dear I would've walked you to the edge of the water 
G 
And they will recognize all the lines of your face 
              Em 
In the face of the daughter, of the daughter, of my daughter 
G 
And darling we will be fine 
But what was yours and mine 
Em 
Appears to be a sandcastle that the gibbering wave takes 
G 
But if it's all just the same 
Then say my name, say my name, 
Em 
in the morning so that i know when the wave breaks 


[Refrão]
D 
I wasn't born of a whistle 
C                       G 
Or milked from a thistle at twilight 
D 
No, i was all horns and thorns 
                    C                                   Em 
Sprung out fully formed, knock-kneed and upright 
D                       A 
So enough of this terror we deserve to know light 
C               Em             G 
And grow evermore lighter and lighter 
D 
You would have seen me through 
C               Em 
But I could not undo that desire 

Coda 
D       C      Em 
Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh desire 
D       C      Em 
Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh desire 
D       C      Em 
Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh desire 
Em              C 
From the top of the flight 
Em              C 
Of the wide white stairs 
Em              C 
Through the rest of my life 
Em              C 
Do you wait for me there?