you needed me once back when we were young
but turned into someone that i couldn't trust
with purses and lockets and penniless pockets
like the earth turning brown in its crust

when we felt the love that was smothering us
was the first time that i was alive
the secrets we keep behind our crooked teeth
are just dying leaves, falling in time

you live near the water's edge
and want more than you'll ever talk about
it's funny how we can get past
life and death and love and loss, but not doubt
and the lessons we learn are just snow
stinging our eyes
holding on tight to the warmest thing we can find

i'll wait for you here with the bellowing piers
losing teeth with each wave that i touch
and i don't need you to need me anymore
like i did when i was drinking too much

but neither of us wears the clothes that we had
and should never have shed them at all
as perfect a lie as i ever got by you
and tucked it away for the fall

the same year you died
i took a new pride in my art
and it's been a while
since i've scratched that nick in my arm

and truer than any old dog
to his master's call
i looked overhead
and i knew why our love had gone

i thought it was cute
how you said you were safe on your knees
you studied the flames
like the castaway studies the beach