Negative Space

from Four Ghosts by Tomtenisse

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lyrics

Lying on your back, alone,
on a bed of fresh-cut grass,
your lungs filled up with the scent of green,
and that breath would be your last.
But when you exhaled, it wasn’t just air––
like an infant, our grief was born there.

Early on, I heard it cry
and make its presence known,
and a day could slip away
somewhere between holding on and letting go.
In time grief grew up, and it learned a few words;
it could barely be heard in the space where you were.

In the negative space, we lost you.
In the negative space, we found you.
In the negative space––
where you were, you’ll always be.

Now that I am married, Dad,
I think of what you’d do.
If I ever have a child, I will look to you.
And as I grow up, my grief grows up, too.
And we talk and remember, and I find a way through.

credits

from Four Ghosts, released August 26, 2016
Written, performed, and produced by Andy Pokel.

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about

Tomtenisse Minneapolis, Minnesota

A tomtenisse is a Swedish Christmas gnome.

Andy Pokel is a Swedish Christmas gnome.

Andy Pokel is
Tomtenisse.

Tomtenisse is folksy, snythy, singer-songwritery music.

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