Lyrics

It was fitted in the winters when the world was made of eyes
Steel across the shoulders, a visor for the cries
It did exactly what I built it for - it kept the arrows out
But nothing else got in here: not the sunlight, not the doubt

I wore it to the weddings, I wore it to the graves
I even wore it in embraces, teaching armor to behave
And the ones who tried to reach me heard their knuckles on the plate
They deserved a man of warm skin - they were given armored weight

So dig the grave with honors
This is not a defeat

Stand down, old friend, stand down
You held the line when I was small
You were forged by a frightened child
Doing the bravest thing of all
But the war is over, soldier
The siege was lifted long ago
Stand down, stand down, be buried
With every honor I can show

The gauntlets first, so these two hands can feel the world again
The breastplate next, so this old heart can drum against the rain
The helmet last of all - and suddenly the sky is everywhere
I forgot the world was this much, I forgot the taste of air

Play something low and grateful as we lay it in the ground
It was never my enemy - it was the best defense I found
But a man is not a fortress and a life is not a war
And whatever still might find me, I'm not hiding anymore

Stand down, old friend, stand down
And thank you - truly - for it all
You carried a boy to safety
Through the corridor years, the fall
But the one you kept alive in there
Wants the wind now, wants the rain
Stand down, stand down, sleep easy
I can take it from here, old friend

Bare skin in the open
Wind across the field
My god, the wind
I can feel it
I can feel