The Avett Brothers – The Fire (Guitar)

C Riff:
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C                  G          Bm           C
A young child sits quiet, the forest is dark

C             G            Em
Possibilities overflow his unbroken heart

C             G          Bm             C
I ask him well after the brush takes the spark

C                       Em
What do you see in the fire?

G/C                          G
I see light within color and color in light

Bm           Em            C
Trophies I'll take home and battles I'll fight

C             G            Bm         C
A bright blue horizon with no pain in sight

C                            Em     G/C         G
I'll be there and so will my parents and you're invited too

C                         G
A life-sentence inmate in orange prisoner clothes

Bm                  Em                 C
Who's been told his whole life that's just how it goes

C            G             Bm      C
Who came out swinging from poverty row

C                       Bm
Sits a bit close to the dangerous glow

C                     Em
What do ya see in the fire?

C                               G
I see rich people laughin' with food on their plates

Bm               Em          C
And neighborhood bullies imprinted with hate

C             G            Bm          C
Moms and dads screaming at each other insane

C                          Bm
And hard grey redemption a little too late

Em                    Am
And I see myself as I might've been

C                 D             C               G
I’m handsome, and capable, and funny

        C                 G
A young woman in college entranced by the flames

   Bm        Em         C
Is pondering silent how perfectly strange

C               G         Bm      C                                     Em
A girl could be called by so many names and not one be the one she was given

C                      G
What do you see in the fire?

C                           G
I see myself in the mirror, not pretty enough

Bm          Em        C
And digital images reducing love

C               G           Bm       C
My roommate enslaved by expectations above

C                                Em             Em
And then I see the face of my mother

C                     G
A first-year preacher stands on his feet

Bm              Em        C
His love for mankind is true and complete

C          G          Bm                C
While the frigid wind blows through the trees

C                 Bm
I ask as he leans away from the heat

C                       Em
"What do you see in the fire?"

C                         G
I see swirling confusion, question, and loss

Bm              Em   C
And I know all about Christ and the cross

C                        Bm
But I cannot explain the Holocaust

Em                            Am
I stuttered when a young man asked me to

C                     G
I just couldn’t find the words

C                      G
A woman of ninety with wisdom in spades

Bm                Em           C
Her mind still as sharp as her kitchen blades

C            G      Bm          C
I ask as her memory nonetheless fades

C                       Em
"What do you see in the fire?"

          C                       G
I see the touch of my husband who recently passed

    Bm       Em              C
Our hometown before the roads got so fast

C            G         Bm        C
And I see it now in an impatient blur

G               C
And I see how in love we were

Em                           Bm
I see the good Lord offering mercy

Em                           Bm
I see the good Lord offering mercy

C                            D7
I see the good Lord offering mercy

C                       G
Someone I care for, she sits by my side

Bm             Em           C
I can feel the past and the future collide

C                 G         Bm                C
She leans in and whispers, “Don't think, just decide"

C                      Em
What do you see in the fire?

          C                          G
I see the faces of my victims whose hearts I once broke

Bm       Em            C
Calm and alive in the curling smoke

C          G    Bm           C
All I can do is sit here and hope

C                       Em                      Em
They may find a way to forgive me

C                           G
There's something unspoken there in your eyes

Bm           Em           C
A pain or a love I don't recognize

C                G  Bm       C
I better ask you now before it dies

C                   G
What do you see in the fire?