Dishes Can Wait

(the dishes can wait)

Sleeves pushed up, water running hot
Radio low on a song you half forgot
Hair tied up in the scarf you wear to work
Shoulders carrying the whole day's hurt
Steam on the window, a pot in your hands
Scrubbing like the shine could pay a debt
I watch from the doorway, I don't make a sound
Then I walk across the floor and lay the towel down
Crumbs on the counter, a spoon in the sink
The cat on the radiator, too tired to think
You say let me finish, I say not tonight
The stack will still be standing in the morning light
Steam climbs the glass and writes your name down slow
I trace the letters with my finger, let the quiet show
Plates don't miss a person who is breathing slow
Pots don't keep a ledger of the debts we owe

Turn off the tap, hear how quiet
It sounds when nothing's owed
Turn off the tap, hear how quiet
It sounds when nothing's owed

The dishes can wait, the dishes can wait
You carried the whole house today
The dishes can wait, the dishes can wait
Let me carry you the rest of the way
(mm, the rest of the way)

Mm, let it wait
(let it wait)
Mm, let it wait

Mm, let it wait
(let it wait)
Mm, let it wait
(let it wait)
Mm, you're here
(you're here)

My mother washed the plates after every meal
I never once saw her eat sitting down
Boy in the doorway with a paper cup of milk
Made a promise to the floor and to the sound
One day somebody takes the cloth away
One day somebody says come sit with me
Now I'm grown and I'm standing where she stood
And the water's running over history
She dried her hands on her apron and said, go play
I was six and I heard her hum something grey
I never asked her what the song was for
Now I hum it at the sink and I know it more
So I'll hum it for you if you hum it for me
Two voices in a kitchen is a kind of family

Turn off the tap, hear how quiet
It sounds when nothing's owed
Turn off the tap, hear how quiet
It sounds when nothing's owed

The dishes can wait, the dishes can wait
You carried the whole house today
The dishes can wait, the dishes can wait
Let me carry you the rest of the way
(mm, the rest of the way)

Mm, let it wait
(let it wait)
Mm, let it wait

Mm, let it wait
(let it wait)
Mm, let it wait
(let it wait)

I take the dishrag out of your hands
Dry each finger, one by one
Socks on the tile, the kitchen light low
We don't need a song, we've got the hum
Your head on my shoulder, the dishrag on the chair
A cup that's still warm and nobody there to care
Slow, slow, slow
Slow, slow, slow

The dishes can wait, they've waited before
You carried the whole house today
The dishes can wait, the dishes can wait
Tomorrow they'll be there, and so will I stay
(mm, the rest of the way)

Let the water go cold, let the night go late
(carry you, carry you)
Mm, let it wait
(the dishes can wait)
Mm, let it wait
(the rest of the way)

The dishes can wait
(the dishes can wait)
Mm, let it wait
(the rest of the way)

The dishes can wait
(mm)
Let it wait
(mm)