In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
on a cold December, just before dawn
as the sun said Hello! to the sky
the Mantis prayed while the Lamellicorn
tunneled and rolled in a threadbare tie
while the Holland Lops in the Karakung Glades
indignantly thump their feet and hop away
when they cut their noses on the sharp-tipped blades
(which the grass doesn't mind in the least)
and there's a heat-pat waiting in the chicken-wire hutch
where the does from the Netherlands stay
[but that dry alfalfa don't taste like much
and we're tired of the Timothy hay]
I touched her back, she was lying facedown
as the dew turned to frost around her eyes,
me and Sister Margaret on the Pentagon lawn
arrested, our wrists in a plastic tie
while the rats by the tracks on these winter days
seeking shelter from the cold make a nest
from the tracts of our various ways
they can save their immortal souls
[oh, no...Timothy hay?
please, no more Timothy hay!]
on a cold December, just after dusk
as the sun bids its cordial goodbyes,
we'll be split to pieces like an apple seed husk
to reveal the tree that's been hidden inside
which sapling called in a tattered sarong
as the seeds from the Shepherd's Purse fell,
broke the news to Mom,
we found a better Mom we call ‘God,'
which she took quite well
singing, what a beautiful God there must be!
as the sun said Hello! to the sky
the Mantis prayed while the Lamellicorn
tunneled and rolled in a threadbare tie
while the Holland Lops in the Karakung Glades
indignantly thump their feet and hop away
when they cut their noses on the sharp-tipped blades
(which the grass doesn't mind in the least)
and there's a heat-pat waiting in the chicken-wire hutch
where the does from the Netherlands stay
[but that dry alfalfa don't taste like much
and we're tired of the Timothy hay]
I touched her back, she was lying facedown
as the dew turned to frost around her eyes,
me and Sister Margaret on the Pentagon lawn
arrested, our wrists in a plastic tie
while the rats by the tracks on these winter days
seeking shelter from the cold make a nest
from the tracts of our various ways
they can save their immortal souls
[oh, no...Timothy hay?
please, no more Timothy hay!]
on a cold December, just after dusk
as the sun bids its cordial goodbyes,
we'll be split to pieces like an apple seed husk
to reveal the tree that's been hidden inside
which sapling called in a tattered sarong
as the seeds from the Shepherd's Purse fell,
broke the news to Mom,
we found a better Mom we call ‘God,'
which she took quite well
singing, what a beautiful God there must be!
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I followed the links that Jhorra left and found this jonahhouse.org/FRDec07Pen.htm if you read the article attached it mentions Aaron's name and Margaret McKenna among the few arrested. I assume that this is what he is talking about in his mentioning it in song.