Hard Candy

On certain Sundays in november

When the weather bothers me

I empty drawers of other summers

Where my shadows used to be

And she is standing by the water

As her smile begins to curl

In this or any other summer

She is something altogether different

Never just an ordinary girl

And in the evenings on Long Island

When the colors start to fade

She wears a silly yellow hat

That someone gave her when she stayed

I didn't think that she returned it

We left New York in a whirl

Time expands and then contracts

When you are spinning in the grip of someone

Who is not an ordinary girl

And when you sleep find your mother in the night

But she stays just out of sight

So there isn't any sweetness in the dreaming

And when you make the morning covers you with light

And it makes you feel alright

But it's just the same hard candy you're remembering again

You send your lover off to China

And you wait for her to call

You put your girl up on a pedestal

Then you wait for her to fall

I put my summers back in a letter

And i hide it from the world

All the regrets you can't forget

Are somehow pressed upon a picture

In the face of such an ordinary girl

And when you sleep you find your mother in the night

But she fades just out of sight

So there isn't any sweetness in the dreaming

And when you wake

The morning showers you feel alright

But it's just the same hard candy you're remembering again