Cabin Fever

Down With The Ship

11-22-03

Take off your bobbysocks and knickers baby.
This is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you.
Throw a kiss to the wind as you saunter off
in a huff that isn't always what you do.
Your crying days have long been forgotten
and this is about more than something new.
We stare at each other hoping not to blink
but I can't see with my eyes sewn shut; can you?
We played rummy with a deck missing cards
yet you always seemed to win.
You were never so loud in victory, sometimes,
as you were when you said "I won't play again."
Your eyes were ablaze with a chemical love
that bore more than fruit to mine.
Forget that I can be so plainly idealistic (for a moment)
as I am just a tardy and uncontrolled romantic.

All it is now is obvious lip,
but not like a kiss on the cheek.
For once I cannot worry about shooting from the hip.
The wreckage is over; I went down with the ship.

The tears you've wiped may never wash away
every sentiment you ever happened to show.
You can drown in the isolation from a friend
even if I'd still rather see you steal the show.
And you can doubt all the early mornings
when you awoke with a weary smile
that waited for me to present you with love
and instead I kept increasing the length of a mile.
There isn't one drop of you I'll forget;
not the good, the bad, the dusk or the dawn.
Just know there's not a lot I'll forgive myself for either,
much the same as you moving on.
There is neither quote nor stanza
that can undo every wrong note we've sung.
I can't hate you any more for being in love
as I do myself for the way it's been hung.

All it is now is obvious lip,
but not like a kiss on the cheek.
For once I cannot worry about shooting from the hip.
The wreckage is over; I went down with the ship.

The worst they say is over
but I've never quite been so sure.
We went through uncharted territory unharmed
but it's the shore that set us apart.

A smoking haze, I'll be just that
in the ashes you've left behind.
In water I drown in my heart where you did reside
and hope I get swept up in blood-red tide.
I can't explain so I'd better forget
but I'll never comprehend your distance.
I'll never doubt our once-legendary existence
just like I believe this now is your insistence.
So undress me just one more time
with your words, so much more omniscient.
Hide me away with the rest of your secrets
that you'll forget before you regret.
I took what I had and gave it all
to the lost heart I was hoping to find.
Now the seas have gone overturned
and I am finally forever capsized.

All it is now is obvious lip,
but not like a kiss on the cheek.
For once I cannot worry about shooting from the hip.
The wreckage is over; I went down with the ship.

This is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you.