When I was younger I somehow befriended a man who looked like he was a killer
Told me he’d pay me just to look after his overgrown grass and greenery
And as I got closer I realized he was older
Than he imagined or pretended to be
And as I got closer I could smell the odor
From all the guilt that he hid by the sea

Old Jeremiah said I was welcome anytime I wanted coffee
I’d sit and listen, hear all of his sins
I’d tell him I’d pray and I’d say I was sorry

We would go driving mostly through Gloucester to look at the ocean or pick up groceries
Those days were quiet, cranky, and silent
Splitting a sandwich, covering stress
Some days were freeing, he would be crying
Explaining his life and how it was a mess
And some days near Christmas we would be laughing
At the tree lighting before the blood test

[Chorus]

And then the end times were hard with pain; his beard grew out, his voice would strain
Dragons and skulls tattooed to his arms, stretched regret linked to his charm
We watched the train cut through the yard, the tracks were laid across his heart
I heard him bellow before he died “I deserve this, I have lied.”

And then he whispered in my ear all the things that were unclear
How the cancer took his wife, why he lost control of life
And how the ocean became blue, why moon waits up for you
How we’re rushing through our time like we’re running from a crime

[Chorus] (x2)