Underberg

Underberg has fallen down

They’ve carted the last brick out to a junkyard town

She put her head on my shoulder

Sighed a sob that said we’re older

And underberg has fallen down

Brick by brick and stone by stone they razed

And ghosts of teenage love and lust escaped

Soon it’ll be but a hole

Off a sidewalk way too wide

We watched underberg drown

And it drowned till it died

On the day of the demolition

I showed up at her place half past nine

With cardboard cups full of coffee in tears

And the foreman began to eulogize

A building is never so lonely

As when it hits the ground

And underberg has fallen down

In high school we would steal inside at night

And make out by the glow of a traffic light

When we tired of touching she would

Turn to me and say

You know they’ll tear down this building

Some bitter, some bitter black day

I want to watch them tear down that building with you

Then watch them watch you tear me down too

The first time I saw her was nineteen ninety-three

Some punk rock shirt and acid-washed jeans

Standing front of a building

With a sign of hand-painted words

Kitchen supplies by Samuel Underberg

And underberg has fallen down