Till It Wants To

[Verse 1] A knock – and my eyes were already open – then once again, slow Look at my dress on the chair I picture my washed feet on the cold floor Two fingers through the gap in the door I'm up – the floor's not cold anymore They find mine – my palms slick with oil The latch slips twice before it gives Street. No one. And him, still on my hands. [Chorus] Come out, come out, the sun is gone the figs are soft, it's hours till dawn dew in my hair, the night on my skin – let me in Not yet Let me in Don't wake it till it wants to It'll wake when it wants to Till it waaants to… till it waaants to [Verse 2] Sun on my shoulders through the linen his smell still in my palms He's at the far end of the vines – he looks up, I look at my hands That look. I turn around and the wind draws the cloth against my back, against my hips – and holds it down till he has seen. Today I keep my own vine. [Verse 3] Noon. The apples hot in the sun, the cool below smells of fallen fruit I sit down where the shade is his, close enough to hear him breathe – sweat and warm cloth, and over us the boughs so full they touch the grass. His wrist turned up, salt in the crease. I could reach it. I don't. Nobody moves. His shade does – onto my knees. [Chorus] Come out, come out, the sun is gone the figs are soft, it's hours till dawn dew in my hair, the night on my skin – let me in Not yet Let me in Don't wake it till it wants to It'll wake when it wants to Till it waaants to… till it waaants to [Instrumental] [solo oud in Bayati, quarter-tone bends] [darbuka and drone, 8 bars, no vocal] [Verse 4] The day goes cool, the shadows long, I walk the rows back home – pomegranates, red, in the last of the light. Water on my feet, oil in my hands, my dress on the chair, in plain sight, the rest of me under the linen – tonight I put the oil there myself. Behind the wall, a shape at the window. I leave the latch half turned. [Chorus] Come out, come out, the sun is gone the figs are soft, it's hours till dawn dew in my hair, the night on my skin – let me in Let me in It'll wake when it wants to Till it waaants to… till it waaants to [Outro] I close my eyes. The wind takes the latch the rest of the way. The night comes in first – dew, and figs, and him. Moonlight on the floor, and the floor is warm. Under the linen, the slow curve of a back, a foot out in the light, a hand closing round a wrist, salt in the crease – and no one keeps the vine tonight. [END]