Leave the Bottle, Leave the Leaf
When I go, don't drain the bottle
Leave a finger for the dust and the light
When I go, don't kill the last leaf
Let it sit in the box like it still might
I spent a life trying to finish things
Songs and jobs and a couple good names
The rye taught me how to leave a little
The smoke taught me how to stay in the frame
Leave the bottle, leave the leaf
That's the kindness I want said
Not that I was holy, not that I was easy
Just that I knew how to sit with what I had
Tell the bartender I settled even
Tell the night I didn't win or lose
I just learned the length of a honest evening
And the cost of choosing not to choose
No last toast
No last draw
No big light on a little man
Just a chair, a glass, a tray of gray
And a quiet only smoke can understand
Leave the bottle, leave the leaf
That's the kindness I want said
Not that I was holy, not that I was easy
Just that I knew how to sit with what I had
Short Glass Country, track by track
- 1Four Fingers of Rye
- 2Last Ember in the Tray
- 3Cedar Box
- 4Ash on a White Shirt
- 5Proof and Smoke
- 6Chair by the Dark Window
- 7Slow Pour, Slow Draw
- 8Whiskey Rings on the Good Book
- 9One More Draw
- 10Barroom Benediction
- 11Cornmash and Cedar
- 12The Long Ash
- 13Burnt End of a Prayer
- 14Lights Down, Ember On
- 15Leave the Bottle, Leave the Leaf