|
|
from Obituary
Remembrance
Remember me to your grudge. When I forgot what memory was, I gave you hate to last you all your days. Remember me to your hate. When I declined to mind my fate I gave you hurt to follow you to your grave. Remember me to your pain. I'm letting you take all the blame for wrapping up my malice in your rage. Remember and I'll forget. He hasn't tried to hurt me yet and when he does you'll warn and I'll be saved.
Muted
Strange what gets in people's minds, like you had friends so you were fine. Your friends were frightened all the time, but you had friends so you were fine. Strange what ticks in people's heads, like I was little more than dead. For all the things I never said, they wished I'd been stillborn instead. Weird, when people never talk. It must be, for the looks I got. That weird kid who lives down the block, stay clear of him. He never talks. Strange they played with you instead, with all the creepy things you said, but they were little more than dead once you'd spent time inside their heads.
Threads
Everyone sleeps soundly with you. Everyone has pleasant dreams and everyone's dreams do what you intend them to. I keep passing myself in the hall when I should be sleeping. I keep stepping on your toes when I should be dreaming. Bought myself a dreamcatcher, hung it in the window to my head. In the morning, I'll find you in its threads.
Inheritance
Lose the shades; let me see the mess. I've been watching you bleed to death with more relief than I would care to admit. Before this laid you open, you were his and you were stolen. Thought, if he took you slow, you wouldn' t be missed. So I missed you `til the day he died, held you while you cried. I was quite surprised to find you alive. Now you tell me that you're all right. You're out every night and all night. Can't say when I last saw your eyes. You probably think I hoped and prayed. Believe me when I say that I never wanted it this way.
Burn
You slide like a lick of flame and burn. I can see it in your eyes, how they do not want to meet mine. Like you know it's wrong to burn in the dark of night. And I see that you love this pain. You're cold when not in flames. All the love in the world could never soothe you tame. You feel too much at home in the dark of night. You reach for a prince of shame and hide, won't admit you have a name. Your eyes can never meet me, or I'll know you're more than fire in the dark of night. You know it's wrong to burn.
Obituary
When you sleep too much, they think you're dying. Next time they ask, I swear I'll say you'd died. And they'll ask me what my plans are now you're gone and now it's over. And I'll stay and lie to them while you run and hide. I know you'd never say if you were leaving. Once days had passed, I'd know you ran. You're always running off and slipping chains and screening calls. And though I try to feed you, you keep shying from my hand. They ask me if you're really as impossible as you seem, and I have to answer kindly `cause I know your fate is mine. They ask me, off the record, am I better off without you. That question's worthless `cause I know your fate is mine.
Ascension
You think that I'm keeping in touch with you. You, being you, must know what it means. That I'm one of the quirks you collect with such passion. I tell myself lies but can't help but believe. And by the way, how are your dreams? It's strange how I wasn't aware of this. I guess that it must have slipped my mind. There's an unmarked grave where I bury what scares me and until we met I was doing just fine. The dreams'll be over in time. In time, the nightmares will be a case history. Bankrupt of meaning and no longer mine. Like everything else that you find.
Locks
All the doors are locked and no one's going anywhere `cause someone in this room, someone in this room... you may be wondering why I called you here. Well, someone in this room did something so wrong I just can't let it go. You have this funny stare like I'm not making sense. How can you forget? We've been here before. I almost feel I'm being ridiculous, but I just can't forget that I've been here before. Though it's been so long, I just can't let it go. I know I told that it was okay, it's okay, it's okay... okay, well, I lied. All this time I've been feeding you lines. I guess lies make up half what I say. All the doors are locked so I can't run away.
Though You Court Me
Thought you should know, there'll be hounds on your trail again. Can you hear them? They're baying at moonlight. Guess I should mention the hounds'll be me and my friends. Take cover; they're thirsting for your blood. Love, for my soul, do you know that I can't walk away. I remember you dreaming of conquest. Love, since I know you, you know that I can't walk away. I remember you thirsting for their blood. Are you aware that I know when you're telling me lies? Though you court me, I haven't forgotten. And there are times I think all that we share is our eyes and our blood - is it mine you've been wanting? Love, for the dull and the witless I save from your hands (will those innocents learn to take cover?). Love, more than love I feel duty you can't understand (though I love you, it's them I would dream of). So, as I say, there'll be hounds on your trail again. Forgive me; they're coming for your blood.
Son of My Right Hand
Come accept your legacy. Come and wear your crown. You know you're my successor from the day I tumble down. I think you were my talisman; my peace has gone your way. I know the route I'm taking could be changed if you would stay. Son of my right hand, this hand I used to guide you through. Be thankful that my left hand never found a hold on you. Come embrace contrition now. Come and beat the ground. You know I'm dying gracelessly because you're not around. I promised you deliverance. I gave you love and home. How can you abandon me to lose my soul alone? Son of my right hand, I swear it tried to guide you through. But in your dreams you'll feel my left hand's fingers tracing you.
Brother to Dragons
In the place where dragons breathe air instead of fire, it's hard to remember why I stopped breathing hard. In the place you said not to go, it's close and hot and smoke stings my eyes. You can't have dragons in the city. They're too big to keep inside.
from Chimera
Don't
Don't make me do this, my liege. Though you don't know, your word is law and always has been. You could get your way, become my prey. I'd swallow you whole. Don't look surprised, my lord. You should know I'm what you think and nothing more. One day, my lord, you'll get what you came for. If this were all you wanted, my king, I'd want you alone and never want for anything.
Haunt
You'll try to trace this call in case I fucked up this time. You say the smart ones do dumb things. I guess you know your own mind. Don't tell me you don't have time for games. You've nearly vanished in smoke. You've wasted every toxic breath since you grew up to be her ghost. I'm coming round to think you must believe some ancient law of haunts has nailed you down. Until your restles spirit's satisfied, you'll rattle chains and pace the prison grounds. I'm not coming back, for you or anything else. Some guys send flowers. Some guys buy rings. I'll send you safe deposit keys `til you've put away your childish things. I'm guessing that you will find your way to the place and time the deed was done. When you finally see him with her eyes, I'm hoping that you'll have the strength to run. I'm not coming back, so you'll have to come here.
Act of God
Oh yeah, I knew him in his younger days, when he said he had those funny eyes `cause cats were what his father laid. Some said he would never age and they lined up to touch him `cause they thought that it would spread like plague. He brought buildings down. His conception was an act of god and I loved that storm so well, I became a lightning rod. One touch, then the skies cleared up and I rained down for years.
Circling
It won't matter. It's a waste of tears. You may have days or months or years, but I know how it ends. I've seen it all from up here. It doesn't matter who you choose; the air you breathe will turn on you, as I have clearly seen. And on the day your castle falls, I will remain above it all, as I have always been. By the blood and bones I will, somehow I swear I will feel nothing.
Stigma
If you want to talk about this, meet me under a pile of comic books where your secret identity's intact and the walls are soundproof. I don't know what you're ashamed of. If I were you, the world would know my name. So what if your gift makes you strange? You don't understand. At least you're gifted. Strange is all I am. And it would scare you to know (I never would say) what I'd give to steal your stigma away. Pull up a seat in the sidekick's lounge and take it from your guide: I've been stared at since I learned to speak and I'm still alive. If you're scared of what people see, I don't suggest that you be seen with me. I promise, your name will be changed. I won't show my hand. They'll call me a liar and I am. I've been lying for you, saving your face, keeping the world a charmless place where we don't belong.
Finding
It's your kind of mystery, why I turned my face to where you hid. You said I'd know where to find you and I did. Never was as crazy, not for clan or lovers, as I am for you. You said I'd know where to find you and I do. I'll take what I have coming for every time I asked you to keep still. I know how to find you and I will.
1000 Year Drunk
I think you keep secrets. I suspect you make trips to a place you lay flowers and pay your respects and all my deficiencies (which you decry) are of gifts she hugged to her flesh. As I stand at the end of a 1000 year drunk, you recall indiscretions past and I wish it took me back. If there's a moral to this story, it's that I'm never gonna learn from anything. Though I call this the end of my 1000 year drunk, still my hands search out a glass. You remain sold on the dust of her bones and who could compete with that? I refuse to compete with that.
Felicity
I'm sorry, didn't mean to be rude. They're talking in my house of many rooms and it distracts me. Dear, I'm not the one who intrudes. Your thoughts are rough and careless lovers, always at me. Be quiet now (keep your own council). I want to be alone (with all the things I never cared to know). I've got (a headache coming on) secrets of my own (locked in a safe like precious stones). For once, for a moment (I don't want to know) I want to be the only one in my skin.
Comfort
You know something I don't and you take no dissent from me. If I disagree, you say, "The thing that you don't know." You'd rather be right than happy, gratified when your worst fears are true. You'd rather you lost your memory. You'd rather be me. I'd rather be some comfort to you. You think god speaks to you. I don't know why he would...I sure never could. You say I wasn't meant to know. You'd rather be right than happy. You must be the rightest guy I know. I hope that it satisfies you. Sometimes I think conviction is all you want to hold. I wish you all the best; I know that annoys you. Could be that you're not so far gone. Could be that your worst fears are true and, unless you lose your memory, could be a lost cause. Could be that there's no comfort for you.
Prophecy
I'm doing better. Everyone who knows me says I am. If I'm a little edgy, it's that every night I have this dream. I've tried a lot of beds, but anywhere I sleep it finds me. Every night, just one dream. Hard not to believe in prophecy. I know it so well by now, know it as I know your face. And when I run you through, it will be an act of grace. I've learned not to talk about it. They think it's gone away, but, `til the time the sun stays down, I will be dreaming just the same.
Speak In Tongues
To whisper in your ear, I don't know what I said. To ask for this, I must have found words somewhere. And for your words, I cut out my tongue. I used to speak in tongues. You saw me fight for words, said I had scars in my head. The things I tried to tell you were as plain as what I said. God knows what you'd sound like if half of what I've seen had caught your eye. I believe madman should be priests. I used to speak.
Slow Pulse
There's a slow pulse down here and a peace like drowning and I don't mind if I do. I don't care if I ever make a thing of myself and I don't care to speak to you. You tell me these things end in tears, shouldn't want one thing too much. You're wise from your years of ruining everything you touch. Take your hand off me. You say you're not lonely, unquiet or ill-used. I guess so much misery surrounds you that I just got confused. I thought I heard you keening. I'm doing well down here and, if I'm drowning, it takes weight off my back. If I skirt some tragic fate and die in my sleep, you'll just have to live with that.
Snow Globe
There's bitter weather, violent wind inside a snow globe. If you stand still, it will keep and preserve you in biting cold. I have a well-earned love of the sound of breaking glass. This may hurt a little. Nothing burns like skin when it starts to thaw.
from Sacrifice
Gravity
See the drop. Judge the distance. Open your arms. It must be love. Come home with that abandon. You'll see, I'll never mention the way you left as if you weren't leaving at all. Every drop and every distance fires your blood and strips your sins away. Pretend I asked and answer: do you still love me better than the cold air you spread for when you fall? I will be, invisibly, on your case to be just in time for the night you find the wings you've grown to be no more real than mine. See the drop. Judge the distance. Open your arms. I'm a long way down.
Audience
Put one past me, didn't you? Past my window, it's steady rain and you, still doing that graceful fall. So your failure had legs and it danced you to this end of the line. And all those years that was your partner when, babe, I could've sworn you were mine. All those years we had a rythmn, a pulse and a rhyme. And all those years you will falling in time. Now should I make it go away, babe? Should I just wave my hand? Or did you want me for an audience when you land? Talk it up, spill your guts... anyone would. The whole world would confess to me if they could.
Dance Card
It's a long dance, my soul... the only steady beat I know. Do you have patience for this now? (breathe this and be still) It's a slow dance, my love... are you quiet enough? Do you have patience? We've come too close to many things, heard the beating of wings. I have been patient. I've had distractions. I am ready for this now. All that I could ever do is keep the time that moves you. Be ready (teach your heart to stay home). Throw your dance card down.
Real Face
Some guy's screaming. There are things under my bed. How I'm gonna get well in a sick place, I don't know. (stop screaming "my eyes...") I know about the old ones already, I know, I heard you say it already, I know they're coming already, I know. So shut up. Mr. Skull says he's my secret but he won't say what it is. If I had my Play-doh, I'm make a real face from his bones. (what about your eyes?)
Sparrows
Only so close, only so far. Can't stand to know where the demarcations are. I won't be told. "hold it there." I won't care, I don't, I don't care. No intervention, no follow-through. God watches sparrows and I watch you. Oh, look at you. I'll pour my heart out. You say when.
Intent
So much for everything else. Its failure brought us here. I'm looking at your kitchen shelf where I've kept things for years and you ask if your intent is clear. All those stupid boys - you pushed, they left, you cried. Told me you didn't know what was going through your mind. From the sidelines, none of this is news... but I'm glad it's clearing up for you. While I'm standing here you ask me where I stand. As if we'd never met, you ask me how I am. You can take me at my word, take my record as my bond. Or you can take another dozen years to decide you've done this wrong. I expect I'll be around that long. You ask if your intent is clear and I say it's pretty clear. Yes.
Sungod
My sungod, this is night for day and watching you by this strange light is prayer. I dream this is a dark ride. I have carnival dreams. It's artiface... we pretend for kisses when we scream. So little faith, my sungod. My religion denies everything but you.
Trace
Behind the veil I chill the place you run your nails. You want him. I want your hand to hold. He shakes from passion and from cold. I trace your touch. I hold your hand and trace your touch. You'll never be alone with him. He'll never be alone.
Chlorine
Something throws you at me as a bribe for my good behaviour, as a gift for my service to the tribe. God help me, it's what I want. And god help you - this sacrifice. You've burned everything but your place at my side. My lungs ache with chlorine. It seeps in every time I breathe. It's elegant... I can call you home from the dead and I'm bought and paid for while you're alive.
Cold Relgion
Don't tell me to take comfort. This thing cares not for me. Before he let it touch me he would warm it in his hands. There are things I refuse to understand. He taught your cold relgion with a passion. I was raised to love and grieve and this small sacrifice, one servant's life - it was everything to me. Regardless, I am married to the path I have been shown. I inherited his faith on the day I lost my own.
Serenade
We first crossed paths in 1602. I played a song and said I wrote it for you. When I said that, I though you might buy me food. The song was never for you. I was someone else in 1710. You said you knew me and called me friend. You said, "Won't you play the song again that you wrote for me way back when?" Through the nineteenth century you whistled that song, said you had the tune but the words were wrong. If I would sing them you'd hum along and when I was through you'd be gone. The damndest lie I ever told was when I wrote a song to trade for gold. This song's yours and I'm feeling old. Just take your song and go.
Magician
Hold still and close your eyes. It's magic when you swallow knives. Don't look and don't cry, `cause they like it. Cast a line and hold on. I'll put a blade between here and gone, the difference as thin as I slice it. My baby, my love, you're white cloth become a dove... beneath it all and above it. Now, don't cry. You'll make oceans of your eyes and you know there are nights when I love it.
Any Old Shade
In blackouts when night clouds over, buildings and streets are grey as the cats. I have a suit to match. I could match any old shade. I could go silver as the rain and pour out over the sea as if I belonged. When the Dominion's damp as the ocean, I can't tell where one stops and the other begins. I could just walk in. Would you say, "Where did he go?" I guess that I never would know unless your voice carred out to sea like a dance hall song. When the next storm hit the water, tossed on the beach, a rounded stone, I'd pick up and head home.
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
