A Woman Oversees

One time I went overseas
With a woman I know too deep
I live and breathe to hold her in
I love to hear her speak
We went to people's parties
And we haunted her old hometown
We rambled into restaurants
Tracking her old friends down

They all knew the magic number
The weather, the kids, TV
But this is where she pulls the strings
And slips into someone's grief
She's all tarot cards and gypsy moves
She's on fire with listening
No one sees it coming, no
The canary doesn't sing
Sing, sing, sing
She doesn't sing
For a woman oversees (sees)
A woman oversees

I feel for them and not because
Of what they're going through
I'm sure they used to try and reach inside an empty room
But she doesn't make it easy (no)
She hides behind her hair (hair)
She asks too many questions
And she cuts you off with care
She reaches deep inside you like an open cookie jar
And not because you're interesting
But to mine your broken heart
For borrowed pain to hide behind
Divorce, disdain, disease
And it ain't like she don't have her own
But hers is hers to keep
It's hers to keep
For a woman oversees
A woman oversees

And in a chair sat right beside the puppeteer sits me
Recognizing maybe that I've said too many things
I've fallen prey to conversate, I've spoken her to sleep

Even an eviction
Would be a mercy in that place
Wordlessness is cruel and I can't wipe it off my face
I know I need compassion, Lord
I'm sure she needs it too
She won't even make excuses
That would all be too much truth
It's too much truth
A woman oversees

When you're this far north of forty
The growing's up to you
Even if you grow away from me
And I'd die to watch you bloom
I opened up my eyes one time
When I went overseas
With a woman no one really knows
But I live to hear her speak