In California

 My heart became a drunken runt

on the day I sunk in this shunt

to tap me clean of all the wonder and the sorrow

I have seen since I left my home

My home, on the old Milk Lake,

where the darkness does fall so fast, it feels like some

kind of mistake just like they told you it would

just like the Tulgeywood).

When I came into my land, I did not understand:

neither dry rot, nor the burn pile, nor the bark-beetle, nor the dry well,

Eb            G
nor the black bear.
            D
but there is another
                G
who is a little older
                Bm
when i broke my bone,
                               G
he carried me up from the riverside
            D
to spend my life in spitting distance
        G
of the love that i have known
            Bm
i must stay here
               G
in an endless eveningtide
                    D
and if you come and see me
                 G
you'll upset the order
                    Bm
you cannot come and see me
                 G
for i set myself apart
                      D
but when you come and see me
   G
in California
       Bm        (A)     D
you cross the border of my heart
                     D             D7
well, i have sown untidy furrows 'cross my soul
          G             Gm
but i am still a coward
                  D              D7
content to see my garden grow so sweet
     G             Gm   (A)
and full of someone else's flowers
                Bm                 (A)  G
sometimes i can almost feel the power
(A)           Bm               (A)   G
sometimes i am so in love with you
(A)           Bm                            (A)   G
like a little clock that trembles on the edge of the hour
(A)      Bm                       (A)    G
only ever calling out "cuck-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo"
When I called you, you, little one, in a bad

way, did you love me? Do you spite me?

Time will tell if I can be well,

and rise to meet you rightly.

While, moving across my land, brandishing themselves like a burning branch,

advance the tallow-colored, walleyed deer,

Eb        G
quiet as gondoliers,
while, i wait all night for you in California
             Bm
watching the fox pick off my goldfish
                   G
from their sorry, golden state
           D                 G  (sus4)
and i am no longer afraid of anything
         Bm             G
save the life that here awaits
                  D
i don't belong to anyone
   D7                   G         Gm
my heart is heavy as an oil drum
                    D
and i don't want to be alone
      D7                   G            Gm
my heart is yellow as an ear of corn
                   D
and i have torn my soul apart
     D7                     G            Gm
from pulling artlessly with fool commands
                   Bm                           (A)
some nights i just never go to sleep at all
   G
and i stand
(A)            Bm           (A)            G
shaking in the doorway like a sentinel, all alone
(A)             Bm            (A)
bracing like the bow upon a ship
       G
and fully abandoning
(A)           Bm
any thought of anywhere but home
(A) G
my home
(A)            Bm           (A)  G
sometimes i can almost feel the power
(A)  Bm (A) G
and i do love you
(A)       Bm                      (A)       G
is it only timing that has made it such a dark hour
(A)       Bm                  (A)     G
only ever chiming out "cuck-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo"
^ for the backing harp pattern here I came up with this:

A
Bm           (A)           G              (A)
cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a
Bm           (A)           G              (A)
cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a
Bm           (A)           G              (A)
cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a
Bm           (A)           G              (A)
cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a
My heart, I wear you down, I know.

Gotta think straight, keep a clean plate;

keep from wearing down. If I lose my head,

just where am I going to lay it?

    Bb         C   Ab           Bb      C
for it has half who need to be hanging around
               Bb         C   Ab           Bb      C
Here among the Daphne blooming out of the big ground
      Bb         C   Ab           Bb      C
i'm a native too, but i'm overgrown
     Bb         C   Ab           Bb      C               C
i am sure my roots are near here as rich as rope
    Bb       Ab
here down
       C
in California