Letters in Stone

(First Line from ‘Studying Stones' written by Ani DiFranco.
From the album ‘Knuckle Down'
Righteous Babe Records.)

Written by Crybaby®™
Crybaby & Co. Publishing ©2005
Reprinted by permission

I'm out here studying stones
Whispering in undertones
Law on this stone, I'm taking delight
His finger makes Law
More permanent then ink
Engraved into hearts
Etched into my bones
I see your prophet coming
Down now deeply
Within me I can no longer see
A reflection desperately resembling yours

A calf made of gold,
Didn't do as they were told
burn a brand into my existence
I'll do where I'm bold
Pick up my beam,
Send your prophet down please
Show me from these tablets
That I am a jewel
A precious gem to you

It's hard to look up when he's glowing like that
But too beautiful to look away now
Your inspired letter in stone
I am scrolling through scrolls to see for myself
That your feelings are genuine that
Real

I am rendered His special property
His very own prized possession,
Confession I have
Fixing all I transgress
A diamond in the shaggy course world of a life that is rough
Smoothing my uneven ground steps
I am found
In your excavation throughout the surface of the earth
You're finding substance, adding culture
Refinement and polished correctness
I am rough and ready, good enough for the purpose
Extracting me now while you blow up the enemy
I'm worth more then gold to you
Beauty in the eyes of the beholder
His all seeing eyes sees, everything adoring about me
This Rock is a mine of information
The very science dealing with the gemstone I have become
I'm excavating it now, accuracy is abundance here
In this mountain
Letters in stone show me the way

He fondles my soul, holding me like a child
In the shadow of a large crag
The Rock that renders me special property
The noose loosened from being tight
Around my rough-neck that I tied so carefully around
Falling into temptation, transgression would
Snap it once I step off

Spit and polish, spat on to be humiliated
I pick up and follow him,
Cause that is what he went through for me
Spat on to be healed
His fingers in my ears
I hear what you're saying now
But I'm still looking for an animal to sacrifice
I just don't see the connection when
I'm looking into the mirror and back
At my stone cold gaze.
Nothing matching to His
Foundation cornerstone holding me upright
Giving me strength beyond all normalities
Shattered shards of me like a tablet
Thrown to the ground

Take a look closer now
I am only synthetic man made stone
Not so precious anymore
But I'm still being cut to proper size
I feel like I only have a heart of stone
On my sleeve one day
Strapped around my right pant leg the next
And nothing else can get much harder then this.
I take all the courage, the stamina
I keep fighting in double measure
There can be a reward, just let this endurance run through
Run through to the end of its course
Leave me alone
Let this thing run its course

Miserable girl that I am, is out here studying stones
Branding them into my heart now these
Letters in stone