I dress up and smile
and treat you like I love you

You eat it up
and feel worth

but if I met you in the street
I would could ignore you

It's only because you meet me at my job
my 9-5
that I have to act like you are worth everything

When I come to your 9-5
you have to do the same

As though we are not men and women
we play this sacred game.

If I saw you in the street
I would ignore you

But when you come to my 9-5
I must adore you

Or risk getting my pay
so I can eat and live and be

This dance of men and women
this capitalistic ritual
that makes the world turn
and kills the inner being
of those who dance
for each other

It is a lie

I put on my costume
and I go to my big box
The Manager tells me about the numbers
and how I've fallen off

He shakes the paper over my head
I need the paper to buy the things
to eat and live
and to get the things I don't need
but want

You come to my big box
without your costume on
it's your day off - and you've come to spend the papers
that your Manager gave you
when you put on your costume
and danced for the others out of costume

to buy the things
to eat and live
and to get the things you don't need
but want

and the Manager - he has his own costume
that brings in more paper than you
so he can go on the day he doesn't come to the big box
and visit, without his costume

to buy the things
to eat and live
and to get the things he doesn't need
but wants

and we all put on our costumes
and pretend to love to dance and smile
to collect the papers
that we need

to buy the things
to eat and live
and to get the things we don't need
but want

and then we die

and the man that owns the box
smiles, and counts the papers

I don't often dance this dance
of pretense and make believe
but when I do
I dance with you
to find blessed relief

I rarely put in all my effort
to find such great release
but when I do
I dance with you
until I feel relief

I don't often fall
to final rest in disbelief
but when I do
I dance with you
and find final reprieve

At last.

She danced the dance like nobody watched
until she fell
and lived the life like no death could come
until it did

He loved her like it could never be stopped
until she was
and died in mourning with suffering unending
until he did

Finally let go.

We all die alone.
what did you chase in life
what did you pursue
what did you expect
to take away from here?

Foolish.  All that we pursue
all that we seek
and that we find
is never long to be

Reality is of birth
and is of death
the in-between not relevant
existence obsolete

Are you sad
to learn this truth?
Does it leave you
feeling low

Get over it
my brother
for no truth is ever warm
and no lie is ever cold

It's all a lie

Did you see her?
She is there among the trees
which sprung up from her thoughts of when
times were easier than these.

Did you hear her call?
It sounded like the rain
that fell just as the winter set
and froze her heart again.

Did you see her smile?
I doubt this was the case.
Her countenance determined by
a loss she can’t erase.