Okkervil River - Mary on a Wave Lyrics

Coal-black virgin spinning
Above an open ocean
I hear, I feel, I need, I know
Seven sailors swimming, shipwrecked
Seven smudgy mirrors
You gotta let 'em go

Well I checked out the royal place
Saw the babies all bathed in champagne
So many miles of dirt I traveled
Just to park here in your shade

Borne away on a wave of love
Borne away on a wave

Well they picked poor Robin clean
In the shadow ravine
I seen the bones, I seen his teeth
Well, it's scrawled upon the streets
Our enemy's victory's complete
And they'll be coming to collect within the next few hundred weeks

I get a little soft shiver in my shoulder
Cause I think there's someone watching
I get a little soft whistle in my ears now
But I guess it's just time passing

Borne away on a wave of love
Borne away on a wave

Blessed blue-black virgin shifting
In the ocean's rhythm
Partly living tissue, partly always hidden
Give me strength & vision
Watch over the earth
It's listing, lady, like it's almost broken
Are my eyes now closed or opened?

Our parents are fading out, fading out, fading out
Into the fuzzy fuzz
"I can't", I gasp, I gasp and pant
I can't get enough air into my lungs
I see the bald head of a vulture
Come cresting up the stairs
Time holds me, greenish-brown
And dying, in a studio somewhere

Borne away on a wave of love
And it's all for you, girl
Borne away on a wave