patterns in repeat

Laura Marling

That you d walk into a room
Tell me for the millionth time
The many fine points to tell your story
Like ?Calabasas was in bloom?
You know I m frankly unaware
of all the ways in which that is supposed to move me

You could skip the end, the photograph, the friend
The long-returning trim that you d foreseen
Just patterns in repeat
Like they ve always been

You had your children on the fly
Another child, another guy
another chance to fall in love again
I fear they may have paid the price
for the freedom of your life
Though you would say that was a chance to show them

An open door, a broken bone, a marble floor
And patterns in repeat
Forevermore
Forevermore

If only I had known you then
A hanger-on, perhaps a friend
An ear to bend around which way you saw it playing
I tell it well, I try to sell them
on the fact you were a match
Ever a scratch away from bursting into flames

A light perfume that lingered in the room
That everlasting tune you had to sing
A smile or two, a gap between your tooth
Your dirty underwear, your diamond ring
Just patterns in repeat
Like everything
Like everything
Like everything

I want you to know that I gave it up willingly
Nothing real was lost in the bringing of you to me
I want you to have a piece of my maternal flame
Part of me, eternity, a tolerance for pain