(by 10,000 Maniacs)

Am D
G Bm Am C
As frail hinges
Pivot on a case’s door
Commemorative
Souvenirs from places
Containers change
With each occasion

A cellophane encased
Display of paper
Certificate
To credit years of service
A tool of central enterprises
The early hope
For permanence
The words
The rings
Consistency
The social security
A miracle is high tragedy

Am D G Em
Am D

Thought mistaken
For a memory
A dress length
Assassination
A fractured family tie
And christening

Local post
Will list your friends
In order of
Disappearance
The lawn scattered

Tins feed birds
A portion baked for
Absent guests
And the mass edition icon
God sent comfort
Your salvation
But who grants absolution
For sins that
Never were committed

Tension makes a tangle
Of each thought
Becomes an inconvenience
Sound as it never penetrates
As servile edges
Break and
Feint

A thought mistaken
For a memory
Clear the dust from the
Smiles in boxes
Pass a patterned wall
Recall their voices

G Am C D

Thought mistaken
For a memory
Dress lengths
Assassinations
Fractured family ties
And christenings

A fractured family tie
and a christening.

G Am C D

Christening
Christening
Christening

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