Lake Song

Down by the lake We were overturning pebbles And upending all the animals alight And I took a drag From your cigarette and pinched it 'Tween my finger and my thumb Till it died And the sun burned low on the radio Say that you will Say you will or will you won't Or you whatever you prevaricate Your whole life, don't you? This much I can say: I would've waited till the oceans Fell Away and all the sunken cities Would reveal themselves to you But you won't, will you? Because you never do And the sun burned through Sweet as honeydew And I Seventeen and terminally fey I wrote it down and threw it all away Never gave a thought to what I paid And you All sibylline, reclining in your pew You tattered me, you tethered me to you The things you would and wouldn't do To tell the truth I never had a clue Now we arise To curse those young suburban villains And their ill-begotten children from the lawn Come to me now And on this station wagon window Set the ghost of your two footprints That they might haunt me when you're gone And when the light broke dawn You were forever gone But I remember you: You were full You were full and sweet as honeydew And I Seventeen and terminally fey I wrote it down and threw it all away And never gave a thought to what I paid All sibylline, reclining in your pew You tattered me, you tethered me to you The things you would and wouldn't do You noticed how I never had a clue Never had a clue You were full and sweet as honeydew You were full and sweet as honeydew