mark kroos

mark kroos and the forest floor

Lyrics

Copyright 2023 Mark Kroos

01) Starters Tend to Fail

Your smile kept me stable when I stumbled in the kitchen

But you didn’t need to catch me when I fell

When you’re bracing for the floor

Landing with Lenoria is a grace and I could never work it off

When it gets cold in East Virginia

Our Starters tend to fail

And roads like to diverge in yellow wood

And whether these diverge for now

Or these diverge for good

The way we love

The way we lose

The way the heart knows every line

And it falls apart

Like Hearts will do

But I would choose it every time

81 will see you to the Blueridge

I never find those mountains seem to mind

Every fear and doubt I never dare to share aloud

But I’ve spent some time pretending I don’t have those anymore

No matter what they tell you you’re a fighter

Fire lights a fight in everyone

And when they say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger

Tell em if it doesn’t kill you then it best know how to run

The way we love

The way we lose

The way the heart knows every line

And it falls apart

Hearts will do that

But I would choose it every time

But I would choose it every time

64 will see you to the ocean

Let it ocean over you

Beauty is as beauty does and beauty is the notion

If you draw a bucket out, that water’s still the ocean

The way we love

The way we lose

The way the heart knows every line

And it falls apart

Like hearts will do

But I would choose it every time

The Way we love

The way we lose

The way it all falls out and there’s nothing you can do

And I wouldn’t try to speak for you

But I would choose it every time

02) The Dirt and the Pine

Sink like a ship you can sink like a stone

Run like a river and think you were sinking alone

I left the district behind

I fell in love with the dirt and the pine

Til tires and taillights beckoned me back to the road

I met a girl in the salt and the sand in a year

Boys with guitars in the bars play what they think the girls wanna hear

Just cause you put that guitar in his hand now you know that don’t make him a man

I was never the best but I’m doing the best that I can

And it winds between these words

When all those lines point back to her

And the faults and the flaws in my design

Are the same ones that brought me to her from the dirt and the pine

I was a ghost on the coast for the past seven years

I was a ghost in the gulf when I could have been here

Darlin I’ve run away from the wind and the waves over most of my time in the south

Make believing that being a man meant that I gotta run,

I gotta run without anyone else

And it winds between these words

When all those lines point back to her

And the faults and the flaws in my design

Are the same ones that brought me to her from the dirt and the pine

Foot to the floor and the tour has me leaving today

But the treads on these tires are tired of running away

All of the words I came here to say, this silence speaks better than all of them

I can stay for the sunrise but these eyes are only for you

I met a girl in the salt and the sand

Arkansas freckles come out in the Florida sun

She kissed me once

And I’m goin back for another one

03) Great Wife Shark

Oh my dear I can’t stay here no more

Never been one to stay out of the sun

But I can’t be confined to the shore

This old car’s got room

Well I’d leave this guitar before I let go of you

So let’s take a bite of those queen city sights

Maybe the stars and the moon

Wrote it in a letter but I could have said it better

If I had another couple of days

It said you are the reason for love songs

And you sure do make em easier to play

I might’ve lost all of that steam

Worried bout the money and what everybody thinks

But you bring me back to myself

And I don’t care

I don’t care if it sells

We’re gonna throw that line and hold

Do you mind if I jump in?

You taught me to love and my father taught me to swim

We’re gonna throw that line and hold

Gonna throw that line again

You taught me to love and my father taught me to swim

Oh my dear I still forget the sound

But it’s clear when I hear and it’s near and it’s dear

And it’s clearer when you’re around

And I’ve seen God in the darkest of places

In kindness in faces, in kindness with no face at all

In the bars in the subway cars

On the highways and byways and darlin he’s there in your heart

There in your heart

And we throw that line and hold

Do you mind if I jump in?

You taught me to love and my father taught me to swim

We’re gonna throw that line and hold

Gonna throw that line again

You taught me to love and my father taught me to swim

Well I was 17 and my heart first broke

Like a promise, a fall or a wave

I was 23 and it still wouldn’t start

I was beat like a heart

I said this old car’s got room

Let’s see what this engine can do

And the tour that was born to be weary and worn

Brought me back to the bay

And we throw that line and hold

Do you mind if I jump in?

You taught me to love and my father taught me to swim

We’re gonna throw that line and hold

Gonna throw that line again

You taught me to love and my father taught me to swim

04) Forgive Me, Savannah

Rain came down

Felt a loss for words at all the words that I had found

And Carolina held me like a child

And in the sunlight for the first time since the Springtime

I was back on Southern ground

95 to 26 was open with the windows

And The Wild was on the stereo and I

Cut the cords where vocal cords constrain

Us from the notes that we can never ever find

But I drove home

But I drove home

Light Came down

Between the moss and oak and broken on the ground

Humans have a wandering need as humans are a faulty breed

And I always find it’s easy ground to lose

But oh my dear Savannah if your majesty was mine

I’d never have to feel September’s chill or see its sky

Cause I’ve found a place where I can see the stars

Darlin I can see em just fine

But I drove home

And this Southern rain is soothing on my skin

Savannah get your meddling hands out of my hair

I’ll leave tonight and see you in the Spring

Cause I got highway lines to hold

Wheels left to wear

Songs I need to sing

So I drove home

05) Rustling Grass

I got a soft spot for the summers I couldn’t save

Sun on the stroll

Soft for the soul

In the Fall I always falter

Winter I couldn’t brave

But I got a soft spot for the summers I couldn’t save

I found a soft spot in the grass

In the patch there by the path

And in that rustling grass I’ll sleep

All of my worries and my fears are in its keep

Darlin I don’t want them anymore

And every path we know

Come this Fall will all turn gold

And always leave so please

Darlin walk with me now

I got a soft spot for the hearts

The ones that hope and the ones that open

The ones that bend

And the ones about to burst

The ones that break and the ones that wall

The ones that lock up tight and tell you

Ain’t no one ever gonna hurt me like that again

Cause I’ve been the breaker

And I’ve been the broken

I’ve been the liar

And I’ve been the thief

I’ve been the courage

But Lord, I’ve been the coward

You can just set em there in the Rustling Grass

Next to the summers I couldn’t save

And every path we know

Come this Fall will all turn gold

And always leave so please

Darlin walk with me now

Darlin walk with me now

Darlin walk with me now

And I’ve been the banker

And I’ve been the busted

I’ve been the sorrow

And I’ve been the shame

I know a healer

Blessed redeemer

I know a savior

That runs with the sinners

I fed the hungry I gave em my coat to keep em warm

But I am only a furnace that breaks in the heaviest part of the storm

You can just set it there in the grass

What the past would not allow

You know the past is in the past

Darlin walk with me now

06) Distance Duster

Now I don’t know a single person in Biloxi, Mississippi

But the folks down in McComb know how to grace

This Southern food, gratitude

Laughter, love and mischief do

A lot to dust the distance

From these out of state plates

And I’ve never set a foot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

I’ve driven through a time or two and I can’t pretend to know

But I wouldn’t bat an eye if Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s

Got at least a couple folks like the ones I know in McComb

I can’t see your soul

But I danced in the rain

And I wasn’t alone

And I’m finding more and more

That love is the only thing worth doing anything for

Now when I walk through the street in uptown Charlotte, Carolina

I see strangers bringing strangers food and clothes

And if that’s passion for compassion

Or second-handing fashion

Man I don’t care if it’s second-hand

Compassion is compassion

I can’t see your soul

But I danced in the rain

And I wasn’t alone

And I’m finding more and more

That love is the only thing worth doing anything for

Now I’ve been the man who looks to find the worst in every person

And I’ve been the man who tries to see the good

There’s a little bit of ugly you can find in anybody

But I think you’re gonna find some beauty too

And the walls we build to separate me from you and you from me

Well I don’t wanna build those walls no more

Every child of the father, how bout the ones that we’ve ignored?

Cause that’s my sister, that’s my brother

I can’t see your soul

But I danced in the rain

And I wasn’t alone

And I’m finding more and more

That love is the only thing worth doing anything for

I can’t see your soul

But in facing the changes

This is the way that we grow

And I’m finding more and more

That love is the only thing worth doing anything for

07) Rental Unit

Paper walls to share

Stubborn station(a/e)ry resumes and windows

Latches never meant to move

Brick that hasn't meant a thing in years to anyone but you

Paper walls to side

Peeling paint remembers memories we never shared

And if those songs could satisfy

January's rent demands

Coffee stains and shaky hands

And darlin' it's alright, we're gonna do our best to fill this place with light

Darlin' it's alright, we're gonna do our best to fill this place with light

Paper trees please don't cut 'em down for me

They belong before my songs and long after I leave

And I would love to have the view

I would love to have the money saved

But as long as it's with you

Then it's all the same to me

Darlin' it's alright, we're gonna do our best to fill this place with light

Darlin' it's alright, we're gonna do our best to fill this place with light

And 10 years on the road can leave you broken

And 10 years on the road can go awry

And in spite of what we see

I still humbly believe

That even broken people glow

We're gonna do our best to fill this place with light

08) The Moon and You

The moon and you

Have better things to do

Than smile or shine

On Harbor Glen tonight

The lake, she froze

And so did East Monroe

It’s too dark, too cold

To stay tonight

When you and me

Moved back from Tennessee

Questions, stares and walls

Rumors, make believe

But you and I

Got our syntax right this time

Sometimes words align

The moon and me

And how they all perceived you

Was no concern of mine

The darkness doesn’t dare

Darling you shine

The Moon and You

Are fight or flight for two

The ground below

Is cold and cruel

If I could say

The thing to make you stay

Sometimes words align

Sometimes words evade

But how they all perceived you

Was no concern of mine

The darkness doesn’t dare

The darkness doesn’t dare

And every streetlight haloes

When eyes can’t seem to dry

When all the bulbs are broken

Darling you shine

The stars are brightest

On the darkest night

I watch without

The moon and you

09) Apologies and Roses

Now I always love the summer on the parkway

And the Springtime in the plains

But the way her eyes bore into mine

I guess they sound the same

I got vision indecision

Obligations on the coast

And my friends tell me to stay with her

But my heart says I should go

I had walls she couldn’t weather

I had walls she couldn’t climb

Any call would seem to drop along

That North Virginia Line

Claim the welts and claim the bruises

Over scars she couldn’t see

Somewhere underneath the tissue

I still miss the way you say

That I’m always

Runnin south

That I’m always

Runnin late

That I’m always

Runnin out

Or away

Now that river spans the mountains

All the way to Hampton Roads

And if that bay delays the backlash

It’ll be worth its weight in gold

Let apologies and roses

Mask a fear of being free

And you asked me if I miss you

Or if I miss you missin me

Cause I’m always

Runnin south

Cause I’m always

Runnin late

Cause I’m always

Runnin out

Or away

Do you believe me when I say I was tryin

To be the person that I thought I should be?

The more I try the less that I like him

Cause that ain’t me, darlin

No darlin that ain’t me

Pulled the strings off that old tele

I wrapped em round the song

I untangled them to find that I’d been stringing her along

All the time I spent explaining

All the times I couldn’t stay

How the voice of my Virginia

Keeps on calling me away

10) Some Dreams

She said I love this song

And I’d never played it for it but it sounded like my other ones

And when half the words are tailored for someone else’s page

It feels like setting fire to my own

And I think I gotta quit that game

Work and wear my worries down to where my worries drown

But the worry and the hurry and the pressure and the rent

We tried to save the money dear but the money was already spent

And I knew there was a cure for this disease

And I knew it had to do with letting go

But some dreams are going stale and comparisons pale

I felt like I was the last one to know

Some dreams die with ease

Washed up and burned out, quietly without a fight and I

Darlin I don’t want to die with these

She said I love this song

And I thought that it was Queen but I was wrong

The pressure in my side, I suspected I was sick

And it was fine til it got to my lungs

And on the nights I couldn’t breathe

I cursed myself for all the times

I’d chosen not to speak out or stand

Against the delusions of grandeur of likeness and whiteness

That we learned from other pandering men

Cause we cover up the sores, rework the metaphors

And make ourselves heroes in our history

All the trust is busted when we find our teachers lied to us

But all of their teachers had done the same

You and I are gonna have some words

If I can ever get em into my lungs

But I’m receding like a glacier, I’m receding like my hairline

Humility hits like a brick, like a sickness

Like a silence

And it leaves you feeling human as human can be

And some dreams die with ease

Others beat you bloody first and hold on to the worst

Darlin these ones would’ve been the end of me

Darlin I swear it’s the last time I need to be anything

Everything I thought that I was is beginning to fade

Darlin I swear it’s the last time I need to be anyone

All of the faces I wore are beginning to fade

And if dust is to dust

Maybe the purpose of life is just to give it away

And I saw it in that Serbian proverb

It said “Be humble for you are made of Earth

And be noble for you are made of stars”

We are a beautiful dust

And resentment is a poison and it permeates the liver

And I thought that mine would stick around forever

But the more that I pry this heart open I find

There’s only room in this ribcage for one of us

And pretty words are only pretty words

Til there’s room in this world for all of us

Darlin I can pick myself off of this floor

I will find there is strength in my knees

There is good in the world and we’re gonna do our best to make more of it

Yeah darlin those are some dreams

11) Hands are for Holding

There’s a photo taken up in East Monroe

Taken by surprise

Taken driving by

The kids, the bridge, the plans

The cars and the spray paint cans

It says “Hands are for holding in the cold”

Hands are for holding in the cold

January called for me today

She said I wish you wouldn’t waver

I wish you wouldn’t wait

And all the salt if I don’t savor favor with the storm

Darlin we got our coats for keeping warm

Take my hand, my dear

Nothing faults our focus like our focus on our fear

Take my hand, my dear

You can doubt the song but darlin

Never doubt the dawn

Or the stars or the moon or the Spring

And I can miss the iris back in June

Fall is a cloudy melody that plays against the mood

Withered / weathered all the same cause sometimes

Petals have to change

And sometimes we press pedals into the floor

Take my hand, my dear

Nothing faults our focus like our focus on our fear

Take my hand, my dear

You can hold your doubt but darlin

Doubt will sell you out

When you stand or you shout or you sing

Callouses don’t always show on palms you used to know

You know callouses don’t always have to stay

Every time you think you have to step the dance alone

Take my hand, my dear

And when circumstance says NO

no more road to go

Well I am scared but I’m prepared to try to fly

When January calls and says she'll see you when you fall

Tell her we're just finding our way home

Take my hand, my dear

Nothing faults our focus like our focus on our fear

Take my hand, my dear

And when sorry shocks and salty roads

Are all we have to share

Hands are for holding in the cold