The Ballad of Love and Hate
By The Avett Brothers
[Verse]
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Love writes a letter and sends it to hate.
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My vacations ending. I'm coming home late.
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The weather was fine and the ocean was great
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and I can't wait to see you again.
[Verse]
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Hate reads the letter and throws it away.
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"No one here cares if you go or you stay.
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I barely even noticed that you were a---way.
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I'll see you or I won't, whatever."
[Verse]
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Love sings a song as she sails through the sky.
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The water looks bluer through her pretty eyes.
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And everyone knows it whenever she flies,
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and also when she comes down.
[Verse]
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Hate keeps his head up and walks through the street.
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Every stranger and drifter he greets.
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And shakes hands with every loner he meets
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with a serious look on his face.
[Verse]
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Love arrives safely with suitcase in tow.
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Carrying with her the good things we know.
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A reason to live and a reason to grow.
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To trust. To hope. To care.
[Verse]
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Hate sits alone on the hood of his car.
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Without much regard to the moon or the stars.
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Lazily killing the last of a jar
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of the strongest stuff you can drink.
[Verse]
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Love takes a taxi, a young man drives.
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As soon as he sees her, hope fills his eyes.
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But tears follow after, at the end of the ride,
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cause he might never see her again.
[Verse]
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Hate gets home lucky to still be alive.
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He screams o'er the sidewalk and into the drive.
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The clock in the kitchen says two fifty five,
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And the clock in the kitchen is slow.
[Verse]
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Love has been waiting, patient and kind.
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Just wanting a phone call or some kind of sign,
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That the one that she cares for, who's out of his mind,
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Will make it back safe to her arms.
[Verse]
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Hate stumbles forward and leans in the door.
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Weary head hung, eyes to the floor.
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He says "Love, I'm sorry", and she says, "What for?
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I'm yours and that's it, whatever.
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I should not have been gone for so long.
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I'm yours and that's it, forever."
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You're mine and that's it, forever.