Marbles

Her hair cut, she looked pudgy and made-up In that dress growing ever tighter We were saddened the lengths she had gone to To appear more attractive In the process losing something We never knew but still missed You knew you were lost as soon as you saw her You saw your life as a series of complicated dance steps Impossible to learn, they had to come naturally Together you squirmed and wriggled And I could only jerk along behind They're going to hurt you They always will She was now with me inside of you And I could only stare wide-eyed As everything closed in around the three of us Things you never saw, talking of the power in rescue The blood rushing through our bodies And it was good They're going to hurt you They always will She opened the door with face bruised and swollen Before we knew, pushed, falling down curved stairs Our message lost and our plans forgotten Surrounded by men in suits and black shiny shoes Moving in, kicking, stamping Blank expressionless faces A handful of marbles thrown at a dustbin Then release, then release They're going to hurt you They always will Being a Northern town, there was an amazing road of stepping stones arraying the southern slope I got out in the last few seconds of consciousness Looking for those junctions, for the one day, and then those distant ocean plains, close to the bay of a desert island I saw you in a tin bath, red water The ones who'd been to the washing room to do their laundry wanted to see the mysterious tarn I never believed in you, or what you pretended to stand for But wouldn't actually want to see the ship wrecked I just had to go They gained