Smoke

[B. Folds, A. Goodman]

Leaf by leaf and page by page
throw this book away
All the sadness all the rage
throw this book away

Rip out the binding and tear the glue
All the grief we never even knew
we had it all along

Now it's smoke

All the things we've written in it
Never really happened
All the things we've written in it
Never really happened
All of the people come and gone
Never really lived
And all the people come have gone
No one to forgive
Smoke

We will not write a new one
There will not be a new one
Another one
Another one

Here's an evening dark with shame
Throw it on the fire
Here's the time I took the blame
Throw it on the fire
Here is the time we didn't speak
It seemed, for years and years
and here's the secret
No one will ever know
The reasons for the tears
They are smoke
Smoke
Smoke

We will not write a new one
There will not be a new one
Another one
Another one

Where do all the secrets live
They travel in the air
You can smell them when they burn
They travel

Those who say the past is not dead
Stop and smell the smoke
You keep saying the past is not dead
Well stop and smell the smoke
You keep on saying the past is not even past
And you keep saying
We are smoke
Smoke
Smoke