Oxygen

I burned all the love letters I had ever received

And I took the hot ashes and laid them at the cold queen's feet

But she didn't shed a tear at all

She just gave the order to raise a wall

To keep the lovers out and the others in

Then I was free to leave

Well I thought it was safe to turn around rest and relax

What with all those familiar faces piled up in the past

But with a trail so scorched and torn and poorly patched

There are holes that pull the precious into a collapse

If you stop to blink

So don't be surprised

If your memory dies

And your will simply fades

Like a marching parade

Dwindling down a dark street

Did your heart skip a beat

Or did time pass you by

While you were wiping the sand from your eye?

I thought you were going to follow me through these lonesome valleys

But now I'm facing scraping this stone wall all alone

And all the ghosts who once pursued me

And routinely abused me

They're no longer enthused enough

To do me any wrong

So it goes

I ran across a stranger who said he knew me when

He said "Last I heard you were in need of some oxygen

So tell me how can you hear the phone to say

That there ain't nobody home today

When you're drifting along the bottom of the ocean?"

I said "I'm afraid we've never met"

So don't be surprised

If your memory dies

And your will simply fades

Like a marching parade

Dwindling down a dark street

Did your heart skip a beat

Or did time pass you by

While you were wiping a tear from your eye?