When You Leave Me Alone

Lyrics

I'm okay for a couple of hours and then, like a fog, your absence erases all the details And I can't keep warm so the kettle's always brewing and the cups pile up around the sink, marking the hours I reposition inanimate objects so that they have a better view of the garden and I move ornaments so that their shadows are more pronounced I stay awake until the early hours watching minor Westerns; anything to avoid getting into a cold, empty bed I play the records you always find too melancholy - Red House Painters, Stars Of The Lid Forget to take my medicine And then I walk up the hill and stand on the street corner in all weathers as if, like a lighthouse, I can somehow miraculously show you the way back The clock sometimes seems to hold the seconds and the sky sometimes seems to hold the birds When you leave me alone, I become who I was before - a two piece jigsaw with one piece missing I plug in to the old answering machine to listen to friends I've lost Their voices are like nettles on the heart And in the bar you don't like, I talk about you too much and I know I'm talking about you too much but I can't shake you cause I don't want to shake you I wear the same shirt for days, don't shave, sleep on the couch I spend hours watching the dust in sunlight, thinking: will this dust last longer than both of us? When you leave me alone, I retract I'm okay for a couple of hours and then, like a fog, your absence erases all the details And I can't keep warm