We Need a Myth

We need a myth We need an amethyst bridge We need a high hanging cliff Jump, fall and lift We can make it We need a myth We need a path Through the mist Like in our beds We were just kids Like what was said by our parents I guess What we're after is just this We need a myth I feel my heart's like a fist I words spilling out From the blessed lips Of any prophet or goddess I need a myth Brought back to life by a kiss Scrape away grey cement Show me the world as it was again In a myth A red ribbon to reconnect The lady's head to her neck And to forget that her throat Was ever slit I guess What we're after is just this A myth And I'm sick Of all these picture books that try To steal some old reflections for their light But desperate measures point to desperate times Which is why We need a myth We're cut adrift We need a mass uplift The world is trembling and weeping And at the point of believing In a myth The sun that shines on my head The moon that lights me to bed Were two identical twins In a myth I heard the voice of a friend On Lethe's banks Wading in He said "Before I forget We need a myth As we lean in to kiss To get two nails Through the wrist To get covered in blood And to get covered in spit And to forgive." And if all we're taught is a trick Why would this feeling persist? And with the truth closing in I must insist We need a myth. --- We Need a Myth - Okkervil River