Lovers Take Good Care
i'm leaving this city before i'm frozen, before i'm
stuck here right in place. the highway may be strewn
with sin, but it's proven again and again: it's the
only way i'm saved. oh, chicago, you're as cold as the
heart of the candidate the night of the inauguration.
and like him, i don't expect you'll ever understand my
situation. i know, like him, your heart don't break.
'cause he grins as he's promising the mess he's gonna
make. and then he offers you a handshake, saying, "no
blood on my hands today." but when he grins, you see
it's his teeth that are blood-stained.
you told me once you were complicated, but i never knew
with you what to believe. you said you never give your
tricks away for nothing and you always keep something
up your sleeve. you say, "this circus has three rings
and nobody gets in for free."
now your pretty eyes, don't blink or i've got nothing
to look for. your pretty hands, don't put 'em in your
pockets or i've got nothing to reach for. your pretty
lips, don't turn away. don't pretend you've got nothing
to say.
see, mama, she was a poet, and at night she'd recite
her best verse. but she said, "crumple this when i go
and throw it from the window of my speeding hearse." i
had it bad but you have it worse. i had it bad and you
have it worse. and she said, "go out now. go out now to
the streets, girl. you go out there, now. you write
your own life story. and you alone decide if it's gonna
be a magazine or poetry."
and your pretty eyes, don't blink or i've got nothing
to look for. your pretty hands, don't hide 'em in your
pockets or i've got nothing to reach for. your pretty
lips, don't turn away. don't pretend you've got nothing
to say. you've got a lot to say. you've got a lot to
say. you've got a lot to say.
and i wish, always, that i could thank you, but i guess
i just don't know how. 'cause you said the best thing i
could do for you is to take good care of myself.
and you became a ghost before you wanted and my heart
is the home you've haunted. and every time i hear the
sirens sing, i feel footsteps inside of me. like your
heart beating, like my heart beating, like your heart
beating.
