Lyrics

Verse 1

The thread goes through and through again Wool through warp and wool through warp The morning goes cold beside the loom And no one minds the forgetting

Chorus

What the thread carried I cannot name it What the thread carried It was not heavy It was only present And present is the heaviest thing When it is gone

Verse 2

The machine came in and it was fast The machine came in and it was clean The thread it made was identical In every way that anyone could measure And in the one way no one could

Chorus

What the thread carried I cannot name it What the thread carried It was not heavy It was only present And present is the heaviest thing When it is gone

Bridge

My hands on the sill Her hands on the sill The same cold the same light The same motion I do not make The thread through air The wool through nothing

Verse 3

The collector writes from Düsseldorf He wants a photograph of the loom in use I do not answer I do not answer The loom is polished and lit and still And still is the one thing it never was

Chorus

What the thread carried I cannot name it What the thread carried It was not heavy It was only present And present is the heaviest thing When it is gone

Outro

Wool through warp Wool through warp The click of the heddle The tea going cold The thread where it stopped