First Last Always Songtext
von Anton Donovan

Was that ink or did a pulse spill night wet
Across the paper′s rough texture?
Inviting, indicting script pressed hard
Where meaning blurs into lecture
Did she crave rescue or just one storm
To drown out a daily dust?
Confessions or invitations
Her lines shimmer, trailing lust

You write for no answer
Or was it just to see who'd read between erasures?
If my name is the wound, how tender, how practiced
How insidiously contagious
One slip to promises
What do you wager when love′s this rehearsed?
Girl, my affection's a question
Her affection an exclamation rehearsed

Did you press your lips where your words left breath
Or am I the one groping for fever?


Your tremble distilled on the margins
Was it longing or craft or both or neither?

If devotion is theater, whose script do you crave?
Whose lines do you regret?

(First and last)
My reply a gentleman's jape
Let her hunger spool in a twist for a place
(She′ll surmise)
Tatiana or child or mistress-in-waiting
Who travels more, sender or thief?
Is it courage to love in the sleeve
Or cowardice hiding behind motifs?
Oh yeah, I′ll keep your letter
A relic or ransom, I'll read it aloud when I tire
Paper burns sweeter when touched by desire


Was it ink or stolen fire?
Oh yeah
Oh
Was it ink or stolen fire?
Yeah
First, last, always, all things must pass
First, last, always
(As long as you can keep your head, it′ll be over before you know it)