Vienna Teng - In Another Life lyrics

In another life you and I
Worked West Virginia coal mines side by side
Collecting the black dust like sin
The day the main shaft caved in
I caught your eye
As the lantern light guttered out
And the afterdamp swallowed us slowly
I gripped your hand and caught a glance
Of the next time 'round

In another life
You and I were Red Guards in training
Side by side we marched on Tiananmen
Turned our own parents in for hoarding rice
And in the Great Leap forward
We crawled on our bellies and died
And a blood orange sky gave a cry
Of next time 'round

In another life i was married at thirteen
You were killed at twenty-one
On a minor battlefield i was buried beside
My second stillborn child
My last thought it seemed a fever dream

Now we sink into a summer afternoon
Central Park in June marveling at the bounty
Our days contain
And we feel it like the shiver
Of a passing train

That other life deep underground
You and I side by side
We are the next time 'round