Sink or Swim

After the dawning

I rose up that morning

To find myself orphaned again

A 5am ring and a voice whispering

That it happened so fast in the end

After the tears, when I washed myself clean

And looked at the girl in the mirror

She was staring at me like she always had been

But this time she said: "Sink here or swim now -

Swim for your life

'Cos a storm's coming in

And you've got to be brave for your brother"

I held him close

But the current was stronger

Than all of our love put together

The sky had opened, the vessel it cracked

As we walked in weary procession

And the ties that had tethered me, weathered me snapped

I went spinning in every direction

If grief was a season, then the season was spring

With its fits and its absolutions

And when we first met in that Manhattan whirl

I was high-wire dancing with demons

If you were the sun

Then I was the moon

And when our paths crossed it was darkness

If you were the dancer

Then I was the tune

And I danced us to keep me from sadness

If you were the compass

Then I was the pin

I was spinning in circles, spinning in circles

Spinning in circles, spinning in circles