We've done this countless times before
But i will always be angry
And you will always be hurt
Such is said to put the past behind us
And tonight for the fourth
Final
Time
I will

I'm a hit and run victim
not your first, and not your last.
It started on my road, it started as a whim
I didn't see you coming, didn't see you pass.
In your little red car
you were smiling and waving.
So smoothly you slipped right past my radar
and underneath my skin, just to hear you saying-
Goodbye, sorry, I see my love just 'round the bend.
Forget me and don't look back.
It just started but now it has to end.
Don't worry, it's me, not something you lack.
There's no room for your baggage, think I have too much.
Don't choke on my fumes, don't get blinded by the dust.
Don't wanna hold your hand, don't wanna be your crutch.
It's time to be strong, you have to, you must.
You're a hit and run victim
not my first, and not my last.

I didn't want
to wash you off
my fingers or my lips

but showering
in flashbacks
of last night
was bliss

I snapped
Not in the way you
   expected
Not with tears and
   emotions
But with irreverence for
   etiquette

Stealing a kiss from him
A touch from her (I've lost count now)
Till my heart is drained
And my head is in pain
Then I remember you, and
How I spiraled out of control
Looking out of this hole you started
At least I'm alive (down here)

Red eyes,
set so wide.
Perplexed eyes,
that can hide.
Closed eyes
and a broken smile.

Hollow laughter,
an empty voice.
Quiet speak,
a careless speech.
False assurances
with little joy.
A beating heart
and a broken smile.

*No need to be ravelled up so tight,
just let loose and undo the fright

who wants to go someplace
someplace far far away
from where i am you are
who wishes to take up
the stakes and powder
and take up outer
we could go now
no waiting
we should leave like
yesterday evening
who wants
to leave
with me

My dearest reader, seconds ago, before your
Decision to turn the page, there was nothing.

These very words were hidden away and thus
Unseen, to all intents did not exist:
Just like the beauty of the Jovian Moons
'Til “Voyager” beamed those pictures back to Earth.

For you have brought this page to life - yes you and only you!
You bring along a wealth of memories of your own,
Your feelings, thoughts, regrets and sorrows, joys
And fears, your hopes and fantasies.

You have the mountains of your mind:
Your personal rivers, clouds and suns: flowers and gasometers!
Landscapes, dreams and nightmares of your very own.
And me, as you sit reading this, I might be dead and buried,
Or with you right now, or maybe miles away.

To you I give the role of God: to breathe your life upon this page.
Take you away, dear reader, and there’s nothing: formless void.
Yet now, together, you may join me, in a realm
Where Life, though challenged by evil,
Is warded by our Love.

Paul Butters

(C) PB 1997.