Karine Polwart - Tongue That Cannot Lie lyrics

I was born with a tongue that cannot lie And how it grieves me Each fleeting thought behind my eye Just up and leaves me Into the wild, like a ba*tard child Born under a briar Oh to be, oh to be, oh to be a liar I've been courted by saints and by sinners Who all know the things that a tongue can tell Whose discrete invitations for sweet revelations Were such an enticement to sell But the street price of secrets seduced And reduced me to trading without any care Oh to be a liar So in conscience I chose to avoid those consumed By ambitions of earthly dominion But even this act, the omission of fact Just delighted The Lords of Opinion And in retreat from it all I did fall for a man Who swore that my words were a blessing But for each of the beautiful daughters we bore I betrayed all the joy in my heart Each harmless invention or childlike convention I brutally shattered apart Some say love is saying the way that it is But believe me it just isn't so For the joy of surprises, the tooth-fairy wonder And Halloween guises were all torn asunder And the lovely mistruths that I so longed to utter Dissolved in the blink of a tear just like bu*ter Oh to be a liar For a tongue that can't lie shall cause the meek to cry Cruel words to cut them through And a tongue that can't lie Shall cause the righteous few to silence all that is true Oh to be a liar Now I wander these earthly lands from pole to pole And from shore to lonely shore Seeking concealment in corners but somehow The world still descends on my door Afflicted, addicted I pray for a potion To take all my vision away Oh to be a liar So tear out this tongue and stitch up these Barbarous eyes with which I see And grant me the right To spare you the cold callous cut of reality Won't you take all this knowing And leave me with nothing, no nothing at all Let me speak what I will and reserve all the rest And I'll walk through the world Neither blighted nor blessed For my sole modest wish now before my demise Is to savour the sweetness and kindness of lies Oh to be a liar For a tongue that can't lie