One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend)

This is how I tell it
O’ but it’s long
One Sunday morning
O’ One son is gone

Against the weather dawning
Over the sea
My father said what I had become
No one should be

Outside I look lived in
Like the bones in a shrine
How am I forgiven
O’ I’ll give it time

This I learned without warning
Holding my brow
In time we thought I would kill him
O’ but I didn’t know how

I said it’s your God I don’t believe in
No your bible can’t be true
Knocked down by the long lie
He cried I fear what waits for you

I can hear those bells
Spoken and gone
I feel relief I feel well
Now he knows he was wrong

Ring ‘em cold for my father
Frozen underground
Jesus I wouldn’t bother
He belongs to me now

Something sad keeps moving
So I wandered around
I fell in love with the burden
Holding me down

Bless my mind I miss
Being told how to live
What I learned without knowing
How much more I owe than I can give

This is how I tell it
O’ but it’s long
One Sunday morning
One son is gone