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I was woken up in the early morning After my flight, by a sound I could not grasp I did not recognize Running like water, two toned, and tangled Like a briar holding many sounds all at once It was a magpie you told me As you handed me a coffee The black and white bird you see in city parks And you pointed out the window Looking straight in at me A black and white bird sitting on the fence I thought about the man who called it a magpie Confronted by the great expanse of his ignorance He wanted to name it, to detain it Forever in that small phrase It seemed likе a shame To give it a name But thеn again, I don't understand anything the way I'm supposed to I drag every river for meaning, scrape my hand on every ceiling I never know what to say or not say What to honour or betray in any given day But I never got used to the sound of the magpie It set my skin on edge, it called like a child Like a dog, like the wind caught in a fence When we talked it interrupted And I would never know what it meant Aus Songtexte Mania