Buttons

|A5  |B5  |C5  |D5  |


[Verse 1]
A5                 B5                C5
  In my mind, not enough birds have died
       D5                       A5
In the shadow of this once cast stone
        B5                   C5
And I'm not unwell, but I am ill at ease
             D5                    A5
With all the buttons still left to sew
        B5      C5           D5                   A5      B5
Through needles eyes, see me sharper than I see myself


[Refrain]
              G5        D5    A5           C5
So you should stitch me in to stop me from bleeding


[Verse 2]
A5                     B5            C5
  And education can be fickle I think
              D5
Sometimes the more you learn
    A5              B5                          C5
The more you lose a sense of what you think you know
              D5                    A5
About all the buttons still left to sew
    B5     C5          D5                  A5      B5
And I'm outside myself more and more these days


[Refrain]
              G5        D5      A5           C5
So you should stitch my skin to stop me from bleeding
                             A5
All over this fresh song and I
                    C5
Acknowledge all the corners
                    G5      D5          A5             C5
And all the freshly painted walls, that bear no former scars
                                  A5
Since they're patched up and over now
                  C5
But I was born of miners
                    G5    D5     A5           C5     B5
And I'm designed to chip away, tunnel into the dark


[Chorus]
C5                  G5                       D5
  But why must it always come down to some unseen contender?
A5  B5     C5
I   don't  know
                       G5                    D5               A5
When hatchlings all we are just battling the whitewash birds above
B5       C5
Sharks below
                  G5                                D5
Though I feel empathy towards the ones who threaten me
                          A5             B5       C5     B5
I'd still leave them soft-shelled to the beaks of crows


[Bridge]
Em                         G5
  But every now and then a tempest blows
Em                        B7
  And the veneer I keep becomes unsewn
    C5                     G5
But will you ever read me well?
  C5
I can only assume so
Em                       G5
  And I'm buoyant like a flotsam man
Em                 B7
  Relegated by the waves to land
     C5                    G5
They dry me like a brittle bone
  C5                   A5     C5     D/F# G5  D5  A5     E5 Em  D/F#
Paraded like a polished stone


[Chorus]
C5                  G5        D5           A5
  But why must it always come down to some unseen contender?
Em  D/F#   C5
I   don't  know
                       G5       D5           A5               Em
When hatchlings all we are just battling the whitewash birds above
D/F#     C5
Sharks below
                  G5              D5                A5
Though I feel empathy towards the ones who threaten me
                          Em             D/F#     C5     G5     A5     Em  D/F#
I'd still leave them soft-shelled to the beaks of crows


[Chorus]
C5                  G5        D5           A5
  But why must it always come down to some unseen contender?
Em  D/F#   C5
I   don't  know
                       G5       D5           A5               Em
When hatchlings all we are just battling the whitewash birds above
D/F#     C5
Sharks below
                  G5              D5                A5
Though I feel empathy towards the ones who threaten me
                          Em             D/F#     C5     G5  D5  A5  Em
I'd still leave them soft-shelled to the beaks of crows
                    D/F#      C5     G5  D5  A5  Em
And that's what you ought to know
                            D/F#    C5     G5  D5  A5  Em     D/F#  C5     D/F# G5  D5  A5  Em
I'd see them smashed on the reefs below