Timothy Palmer - The Ballad Lyrics

I was born beneath the magnolia tree with the moon in my eyes and with dust on my feet
And the taste of the raven's breath on my tongue
My warm wet body was wrapped in the scraps of a quilt
From my grandmother's bed
And my sisters have said they laid me aside
As my poor mother cried
She said I'm ready to die
Yeah I'm ready to die
Cut the strings from my heart
'Cause I'm ready to fly
I used to cry in the dark
But now I'm guided by light
Cut the strings from my heart cause I'm ready to die
Well all I had to my name was my name
My dreams and the wind at my back as I walked
Down the center of town toward the distant call
Of a renegade train
And as he slowed toward the outskirts of town
My soles clicked the tracks as my hands wrapped around
The merciless steel that I'd seen as a child
That had hollered my name
Are you ready to die
Yeah I'm ready to die
Cut the strings from my heart
'Cause I'm ready to fly
I used to run in the dark
But now I'm blinded by light
So cut the strings from my heart
'Cause I'm ready to die
Well sister sun was shining a light
That was fading my dreams that used to burn bright
And was burning a hole like a young cigarette through my paper-thin soul
And brother moon was singing a song
The train was praying a dirge, and our lives came undone
Like the seams of a quilt
Weary bones heard their words
And so they sang along
We're ready to die
Yeah we're ready to die
Cut the strings from our hearts
'Cause we're ready to fly
We used to burn in the dark
Now we're burning with light
So cut the strings from our heart
'Cause we're ready to die
I was born again beneath the shade of a tree
With a woman beside the pearl of my youth
With a voice on the wind like the wings of a dove
And in her voice there echoed a train
And the innocent rain that fell from her lips
As she whispered a kiss
That felt like a quilt
I heard my heart sing
I'm ready to die
Yeah I'm ready to die
Cut the strings from my heart
'Cause I'm ready to fly
I used to cry in the dark
But now I'm guided by light
I was yours from the start
So I'm ready to die