Hourglass

Verse 1

Well, the wind comes howling down the corridor of sleep

With a sack full of promises it doesn't mean to keep

And the clock upon the sideboard ticks away the quiet hours

While the shadows in the corner grow like twisted iron towers

You tell me that the storm outside is nothing we can't mend

As you sit beside me waiting for the daylight to descend

But you don't know the machinery that's turning in my head

Where the words of tomorrow are already born and dead.

Chorus

Oh, how much sand can a hourglass hold

Before the glass gives way and the silver's sold?

You're building a fortress out of patience and grace

While I'm painting a panic on a stranger's face

Yeah, the road that we're walking is narrow and steep

And I fear for the promises we're trying to keep.

Verse 2

There's a theater in the basement where the clowns begin to shout

About every little doubt that you never thought about

They're tearing down the curtains, they're knocking on the floor

And they're whispering your name right beside the kitchen door

You reach across the table with a coffee and a smile

And you ask me if I've been this way for more than quite a while

I tell you that it's nothing, just a ripple on the tide

While the hurricane is howling on the other side.

Chorus

Oh, how much sand can a hourglass hold

Before the glass gives way and the silver's sold?

You're building a fortress out of patience and grace

While I'm painting a panic on a stranger's face

Yeah, the road that we're walking is narrow and steep

And I fear for the promises we're trying to keep.

Bridge

You talk about tomorrow like a sunrise on the hill

Like a cup of sweet water that's waiting to fill

But the well that I'm drawing from is muddy and deep

And the secrets I'm keeping are the ones that make me weep

You've got a heart full of summer and a pocket full of gold

And I'm just a winter story that's been far too often told.

Verse 3

So don't you spend your kindness on a losing kind of bet

When the sky starts to tumble and the floor begins to wet

Just leave the door unlocked and let the wandering spirit roam

Before the noise inside me drives you away from home

I see the weary patience growing heavy in your eyes

Like a quiet realization underneath the open skies.

Outro

Yeah, the night is getting longer and the highway's getting clear

And I'm wishing you a distance from the things you ought to fear

You've loved me through the thunder, you've loved me through the rain

Now go on and find a shelter where the weather's not insane

Before the quiet erosion takes the final piece away

And leaves you standing lonely at the dawning of the day.