Country Sky Glow

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

A strict sort of challenge

That you directed straight at me

You said "forget her, I don't care what you two were"

So 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

And a fire crack thunder sends

The slow seismic shift

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

It skips like a record

But it glows like a movie

You're the country sky

That I never see

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

Cause 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

Cause things are easier that way