Marbles

Her haircut, she looked pudgy and made-up In that dress growing ever tighter It was saddening the lengths she had gone to To appear more attractive In the process losing something We never knew but still missed You knew you were lost as soon as you saw her You saw your life as a series of complicated dance steps Impossible to learn, they had to come naturally Together you squirmed and wriggled And I could only jerk along behind They're going to hurt you They always will She is now with me, inside of you And I could only stare wide-eyed As everything closed in around the three of us Things you never saw, talking of the power and rescue That were rushing through our body And it's good They're going to hurt you They always will She opened the door his face bruised and swollen Before he knew, pushed, falling down curved stairs Our message lost and our plans forgotten Surrounded by men in suits, and black shiny shoes Moving in, kicking, stamping Bland expressionless faces A handful of marbles thrown in a dustbin Memories, memories They're going to hurt you They always will In a northern town there were amazing rows of standing stones arranged on the southern slope They got out in the last few seconds of consciousness Look for their inscriptions one day, the most distant ocean plains, those who make the desert island I saw you in a tin bath in red water Were the ones who went to Washington to do their laundry They wanted to see the mysterious hurricane I never believed in New York, or where you intended to stand But we don't actually want to see the shipwrecked I just had to go They came