Dolly Varden Balcony lyrics

Now there are sisters and there are miracles
There is proof that nothing lasts
There was a cold front, there was a balcony
There are pictures from the past

You were a string-bean, you were a beaten rug
A cigarette in the hand and right through that screen door
There was a concrete face showing
Slides of the Grand Coulee Dam

Can't you smell the ashtrays?
Can't you smell the cheap perfume?
The beers in giant cans, and every Sunday
Before the air-raid bells, your mama's nervous laugh

It is a secret, one I will never tell
It is stuck beneath my tongue
How we were drawn there up to that balcony
As dumb as we were young


Just like a fountain, just like a waterfall
You waited underneath
Don't tell the neighbors for crying out loud
Till the ambulance is on our street

Now there are sisters and there are miracles
There is proof that nothing lasts
There was a cold front, there was a balcony
There are pictures from the past

But not one word now, eyes to the ground
The past has been replaced
No, not one word now, don't make a sound
Never one to complain