hands fragile and strong that know when to say no
wrapped around the rope of swing
we're getting on in years now but
drinking tea is ever so good for your health
and the taste is not so bad either

if you just stand here
in the shining lights
you could know it all
you could dream it all

but you enter the room and makes no more impression than a draft

i want to be a kind girl
a loving girl
a girl in a frock
with the longest lashes
lashes that touch my cheeks when i close my eyes
don't you see

she's ambitious but i'm a beauty
she's a singer but i'm much better
she's a high flying artist and i
and i
and i
and i
and i can do much better than these mixed feelings

i'd wipe down your piano and play the right cards
and the ghosts of things as we touch noses kissing softly
the roads in the skies meeting at long last
and the feel of the sheets you pull over us
when your hands smooth my skin
that i have to remind myself to breathe but

but i will never again be second

there's very little that's absolutely new
but that doesn't mean what i say is any less true

sometimes i wonder how we keep living the way we're living
walking around broken with all these pent up dreams
how i can sleep with him but dream of you
keep our conversations saved in my phone
replay the memories like a black and white film

in this too-clean room
in this empty hall
in this way of speaking
silently
haplessly
kissing you in quantities you can't ever seem
to fall apart or
drift apart or
whatever you're doing to us now

if you open your hand she will fill it with hers
if you bend towards her she will lean in
but there isn't enough time for if's
just beer and ***** and rock and roll
don't interrupt me honey there's just no time for this
so stick your coins in the pickle jar
and don't wander too far from where you are
cause if the wind blows in through the trees
and if autumn is just around the corner
well let's just say you're not gonna wanna miss these

i will trust you but it's just not good enough
cause standing in the rain is sure enough to catch you a cold
we're falling short but we're growing old
you could carry inside you a promise too deep
i will keep you a secret if it's me you want to keep
in your kitchen of white we can lean against the sink
drink hot tea or just listen to music but
instead i will lay you down against this couch of red
(too red) and too beautiful is this
feeling i get when you're too close and i can see your lashes
and watch the way your lips part and
i'm sounding redundant when i try to describe your art
but it's the way you still have that fire within you
it's the way i convince myself everything is true

i used to think if i kept my heart locked in a tower he'd come
but my hair wasn't long enough to let down when he called

big innocent eyes
naughty princess

i thought if i smiled wide and spoke my mind he'd understand
but all he wanted was to look in my eyes and hold my hand