Ballad In The Past Lyrics

I want to leave this forsaken place
Where the wind doesn't reach the lines in my face
And the air cannot breathe any dust out of me
Ears burn when you speak and good hearts bleed
In need
In need of being freed

How long has it been since you touched and made me?
How near it was then when we were still them?
That blue moon about broke her neck jealously
Just to watch the two new kids swim
Carefully
We must clean the dust from these things carefully

And the ground where we lay it was softer in those days
And the words on our tongues were not bitter but young
So I ate from between your fingers and prayed
You would not soon forget me when I was gone
Don't leave me
I'll bury my memories if you leave

Now the hour it turns and begins to fold
While the thieves they scatter and hide their gold
They shake their sand to cover their tracks
And burn all of their old and yellowed maps
History
Everything that was mine is lost behind in history

In the darkness I've stumbled and fallen down troubled
And when I put my two palms together I didn't feel any better
I wish I was good at knocking on wood
But I know I will never be saved or healed
How does it feel
To be a shell in a crowd without a cloud?

But were there a bridge I could cross to all the distance I've lost
I wouldn't need these canned words or this caged melody
I would simply return to where a good heart burns
And the wind bends the trees scattering leaves
In need
In need of being freed