We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Once My Heart

from Blood & Sand by Jade Sylvan

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

based on a Sappho fragment.

lyrics

Once my heart was a fishing wire
unable to control what to acquire --
catching the jetsam and debris
invisible to the raging sea
invisible to the raging sea.

Once my heart was a mouthful of bees,
a hive hung high in the poplar trees --
a droning buzz, a battle cry
but once they sting, bees die
but once they sting, bees die

Once my heart was a cigarette,
a slow burn of the time I had left --
a token of some ill repute
an ember crushed beneath a dirty boot
an ember crushed beneath a dirty boot.

Once my heart was the sky and the ground,
the air and the water, the mundane and profound --
green flames and gasses and the splatter of stars
TVs and goat cheese and electric guitars
TVs and goat cheese and electric guitars.

Once my heart was a song,
but it didn’t last too long.

Once my heart was a married man,
an unmade bed and dishpan hands --
long walks at midnight in the heat of July
the words “I’m sorry,” and the word “goodbye.”
the words “I’m sorry,” and the word “goodbye.”

Once my heart was muscle and blood,
an organ pumping with a rhythmic thud --
the only reassuring constant sound
the only thing keeping me around
the only thing that kept me around.

Once my heart was a rain cloud,
lightening and thunder, frightning and loud --
it soaked and sullied the folks below
but they need rain to make things grow
they need rain for life to grow.

credits

from Blood & Sand, track released April 5, 2011
written by Jade Sylvan.
geetar and vox by Jade Sylvan.
produced by Lee Wizda.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Jade Sylvan image

Jade Sylvan Somerville, Massachusetts

Jade Sylvan is a poet-turned-songwriter living in Somerville, Massachusetts. She fled her native Indiana shortly after graduating college to pursue dreams of becoming a writer. After getting her first book of poetry published and touring the country in 2009, she came home and began writing songs, which garnered instant attention in the famed Cambridge folk scene for their lyrics and melodies. ... more

contact / help

Contact Jade Sylvan

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

Jade Sylvan recommends:

If you like Jade Sylvan, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Saxophonist Isaiah Collier chats about his new LP and the influence of Pharoah Sanders.
listen now