Promise Is a Pendulum - Big Thief

I could never build the ether or the grass overgrown
I could never build the river with a mouth full of foam
I could never build the winter with her cold tears of glitter
I've been listening to the red oak and the acorn she cries
Been listening to the white birch and the paper she dries
I've been listening to the frogs joke, listening to the fire smoke

I can never tell you now what I had often said before
Because promise is a pendulum just swinging at the door
And I'm not saying I'm not jealous or scared anymore
I'm just saying

I could never build a rainbow or any kind of flower
I could never make a sparrow or a meteor shower
I could never build an earthworm, never make the earth turn
I've been listening to the laughing of the fox down the trail
I've been clasping to the listening of the moss to the snail, ooh
The shimmer of the beech leaves as the wind does a big sneeze

I could never tell you now what I had often said before
Because promise is a pendulum just swinging at the door
And I'm not saying I'm not jealous or scared anymore
I'm just saying

I could never build the shadow between your cheek and your eye
I could never make a freckle or the warm breath you sigh
The canopy of lashes with the softness of ashes
I've been listening to the memory, the way that it was
Listening to the echo of whys and because
Listening to the echo telling me to let go

I could never tell you now what I had often said before
Because promise is a pendulum just hanging at the door
And I'm not saying I'm not jealous or scared anymore
I'm just saying
Saying