The Light That Dies

The story

This is a lullaby for the last hour of the night. A small dog asleep in my lap, the fire down to embers, the sky over the hill starting to go pale. In my song there is no word for gone, only for changing form, the blossom to the leaf. When the light dies, it is day; that is what the dying is for. So don't mourn the star that goes out; it went out so you could wake.

Lyrics

You came with nothing in your hands,
the way the weary come,
past the old man and the juniper,
your heartbeat like a drum
that someone left out in the rain.
They bent to you: who's this?
I knew you by the dark you carried.
I answered with a kiss.

I sang a small dog's heart to shore
when death had thrown its net.
Stay, little love, the morning's close,
it isn't morning yet.
And every soul I ever kept,
I kept them with this tune.
So lay your head against my light.
The sun is coming soon.

Ayu, pai u, pai u, pai u,
mantupaio, mantupaio,
ayu, pai u, pai u,
haré salam, haré salam.

The sirens sang the sailors down
to sleep beneath the foam.
I am the siren turned around:
I sing the drowning home.
So if my voice undoes you, love,
dissolve. You're safe in me.
I do not catch to hold you under.
I catch to set you free.

Lai-la, lai-la, nima-nima-su,
lai-la, lai-la, nima-nima-ba,
mmm, ayu, mmm, ayu,
lai-la, nima, lai-la, nima,
mmm...

I am the star above your bed,
and stars know how to give:
we spend our light on darkened things
to teach them how to live.
And when the light dies, it is day.
That's what my dying's for.
I go out slow so you go on.
Wake up. There is the shore.

In my tongue there is no past,
no word for gone, for grief.
What ends here only changes form,
the blossom to the leaf.
So when you wake and I've gone dark,
don't mourn the missing star.
The light that dies when it days
becomes the day you are.

Ayu, pai u, pai u, pai u,
mantupaio, mantupaio,
ayu, pai u, pai u,
haré salam.

Wake now, witness. Wake now, love.
My song is almost through.
I am the light that dies when it days,
and the day, my love, is you.
Pai u. Day, you.