Selling the Ashes

Single by Brendan Bonsack Fourteen thousand steps ago I ran into a neighbour Their hearing is on Wednesday Their mother has the cancer A chat bot told them If you put a frog in boiling water That it's better for the tadpoles For the warm will grow them taller They're copying the books And then burning the books And then they're Selling us the ashes Once upon a time, you know I knew a story came From the heart of an artist (or ghost-written by their lover) My neighbour tells me They were up all night with GP Chatters They think it might be sentient It seems to know them better Than anyone they've ever been Or lain with altogether I feel so old, a box under my bed Stuffed full with letters They're copying the books And then burning the books And then they're Selling us the ashes Monday, Tuesday disappear My neighbour can't be found Take the kittens and the passwords They said, if things go down Fourteen million steps ago I'd have told a different story But all previous instructions Always can ignore me They're copying the books And then burning the books And then I think they must be selling us The ashes of our words Dressed up as water, jump Like frogs, it's just warm Enough for swimming For notes and lyrics, visit brendanbonsack.com/songs/selling-the-ashes © Brendan Bonsack 2025