I held a ceremony for you I burned some of your hair It stank like charred grain And never left the room Floating up the the ceiling Hanging around The way a slave haunts a tree Or a miscarriage haunts a marriage I went to the creek I wish you could have seen my swollen face Distorting the ripples Reflected on the chalky cliffs After you left I grew my fingernails long And painted them red I watched the birch trees fall And crack on the whirlpool escarpment I watched the birch trees fall And crack on the whitewater rocks