That Unwanted Animal

There’s a second wind coming
As we lie here in our bed
It rattles the bones of our fathers
Carries whispers from the dead

And you, you light a candle
And I make sure the bairns are fed

You turn the telly on
To drown out your fear
And make the bed up silent on the floor
So no-one will hear us
You try so loud to love me
But I cannot seem to hear

‘Cause you, you touch
My skin peels off like paint
But beneath all of our panting
There’s this noise I cannot shake

Can’t you hear that scratching?
There’s something at the door

But the wind has picked us up now
We’re hanging in the air
And as you grip me like an animal
That you’re about to spear

Be good to me, I whisper
And you say: What?
And I said: Nothing, dear

Can’t you hear it?
It can hear you
It wants me to

(Throw the plate at the wall)

I’m the paper cut that kills you
I’m the priest that you ignored
I’m the touch you crave
I’m the plans that you made
But fuck all your plans I’m bored

And can’t you hear that scratching?
I ask your eyes

I’ve got knuckle burn from typing all these lines into your chest
And as the belt from your buckle is tightening I make shipwrecks out of my dress
And the door below it splinters
And the creature creeps inside

And we fall into each other
The scratching grows so loud
Because that unwanted animal
Wants nothing more than to get out
And I scream: Oh, what’s the time, Mr Wolf?”
But you, you’re blind, you bleat, you bear your claws

And you rip my rib cage open
And devour what’s truly yours
And our screaming joins in unison
I cry out to the lord

‘Cause if we join our hands in prayer enough
To God, I imagine it all starts to sound like applause

Can’t you hear it?
It can hear you
It wants me to

And those plates they smash like waves
(Place your hand in mine)
And on the wind it howls
(How long can this last?)

But that second wind is coming love, it’s coming for all we own
And on the creature scratches, it doesn’t know how to get out (let me out)
And you, you follow philosophies
But me, I laugh I choke

Well hello, my hollow holofernes
I wink but you don’t get the joke
Hold the hand of the God-child, they said
As he falls from the sky

Be good to me, I beg of him
Be good to me, I beg of him
Be good be good be good be good be good be good be good

And he replies
No, no, not I