You carry the beach in your way-too-short hair
That you shaved off last week cause you freaked and got scared
That when it's longer, you remind me of her
So you offered it up with what passed for authority
Some strict sort of challenge you directed straight at me
You said, "Forget her, I don't care what you two were"
But it's a trick on your ego
A two-step off tempo
A solid gold bracelet
Under lights, in a window
In some shopping mall where I never go
You play coy and count tiles, drag your toes through the water
Raise your eyes, bite your lip, and my mind's in the gutter
You move at me and take my face in your hands
I feel light bulbs explode in a fire-cracked thunder
Sense the slow seismic shift of the sprawling cloud cover
But when we're finished I feel awful again
So it's the same sorry story
Just the cast changes nightly
And it skips like a record but it glows like a movie
Or the country sky that I never see
The shake in your voice makes me feel empty and ugly
All scattered anger like a windstorm, howling violently
And I wanna fade out and wake up somewhere else
Where no face is familiar and I'm left by myself
To keep plugging away on my own wasted time
To eat badly and spend all my money and write
To not feel too guilty to be tired at night
Since I'm not fixing things here, I'll leave them behind
So you make your decision
I'm through making mine
Now I walk where the street swallows light like it's water
I see the slant of your smirk on every kid at the corner
But if you called, I'd never know what to say
So I just hope you never will
Things are easier that way
