Verse 1:
   Dbm                  Ab               A
They're taking pictures of the man from God
  E                        B
I hope his cassock's clean
   Dbm                    Ab      A
The burden of being a holy fellow
  E             B                   E
Your halo better gleam, better gleam


 E5        B             Dbm
What of all those wayward priests?
 E           B
The ones who like to drink
 E5                    B                Dbm
Do you suppose they'd swap their blood for wine
 E                       B          E
Like you swapped yours for ink, for ink

Verse 2:
    Dbm             Ab   A
You wrote me oh so many letters
    E                  B
And all of them seemed true
Dbm            Ab      A
Promises look good on paper
  E             B         E
Especially from you, from you


    E5                  B       Dbm
The weight of all those willing words
  E           B
I carried all alone
    E5                B      Dbm
You wouldn't put your pen to bed
        E                B        E
When we hadn't found our own, our own

Verse 3:
     Dbm             Ab      A
Your sentences rose high at night
    E                B
And circled round my head
    Dbm                  Ab A
The circle's since been broken
         E                   B        E
Like the priest before me is breaking bread


          E5                 B        Dbm
I'm being asked to drink the blood of Christ
    E                 B
And soon I'll eat his flesh
    E5          B          Dbm
I'm alone again before the altar
 E              B       E
Shedding all my old regrets

Verse 4:
    Dbm                 Ab       A
The last of which I'll tell you now
   E                 B
As it flies down the sink
  Dbm           Ab      A
I never knew a part of you
    E             B       E
You didn't set in ink, in ink


    E5               B      Dbm
The letters that you left behind
   E              B
No longer shall I read
     E5                  B Dbm
Your blood's between the pages
    E                B       E
And I can't stand to see you bleed

Verse 5:
         Dbm                   Ab    A
And I'll soon forget what was never there
     E                 B
Your words are ash and dust
Dbm                     Ab        A
All that's left is the song I've sung
    E                         B     E
The breath I've taken and the one I must


          E5                       B             Dbm
If you're born with a love for the wrote and the writ
          E            B
People of letters your warning stands clear
    E5                     B           Dbm
Pay heed to your heart and not to your wit
      E                        B           E
Don't say in a letter what you can't in my ear
 This arrangement is its contributor’s own interpretation, shared for private study, education and non-commercial use. The underlying song, lyrics and music remain the property of their copyright owners. To request removal, see Legal & Copyright.