Do the dishes With the windows open Soak the dirt From under your nails Pour a double Put a record on the table The light's always perfect Just before it fails Bow your head down When you break bread together Close your eyes Make a circle of hands There is nothing That cannot be taken from you In this life we just hold on To the love that we have Swing the axe In the hour before daylight Note the sparks That attend to the blade A thing made free Of itself leaps apart And the heart divided Would do just the same Take the back roads With nobody on them Find a river Make yourself clean Go down to the water If you would be delivered Of sinner and sin Seen and unseen Step outside Let the stars reel around you Cup your hands Around a bright flame In that darkness Let the heavens confound you It's all just a story Even the sound of your name