When Pressed for Details

I’ve been on welfare since before I knew you.
I thought that you should know.
I’m poor in loving kindness,
And my little heart is broke.
And it’s funny how you shake your head now, keeping me in line,
Angel, loving me is just a waste of time and breath and blood.
Oh you know it hurts to say I’m not in love.

This game is long and random,
If I could I would resign,
So I’ve waited, settled, mated.
Learned I ain’t so good at lying.
We’ll find a way to pay the bills even if you don’t get the job,
And I will face the pitchfork-wielding mob, torches and clubs,
Oh you know it hurts to say I’m not in love.

There is a woman I remember,
From when I was just a girl,
She slipped into my childhood
With cheap perfume and pearls,
And I would rather dream of her than have her in my bed,
Oh but all the same I need her there instead of you, my love.
Oh you know it hurts to say,
Oh you know it hurts to say,
Oh you know it hurts to say.

* * * * *

The last time I saw Daniel he didn’t blink at all.
The last time I saw Daniel he didn’t blink at all.
The last time I saw Daniel he didn’t blink at all.
The last time I saw Daniel he was four feet and two inches tall.

And I will be a trumpeter but first of all,
I am Alexander but first of all,
I will be a trumpeter first of all,
The jacket fits my shoulders but my shoulders are small.

He was plaster, he was silver,
He was fifty inches tall,
And in time I won’t remember him at all,
And he worried whenever I rested,
He was sweating when I cried,
He was a bad, bad man, and he died.