Battle Cries

I'm at the brink, don’t laugh

At the winks I’ve masked

Who’ll save you when you fall?

The wrinkles and bricks that we’re left with at last

And drink will fix all those questions unasked

Who died? And made you king of it all

Who wins this war? You’ve a knack

For applause from the back of the stalls but you lack

The conviction to look at me straight and say yes

Now the wind is so warm on the back of my neck

As I walk with the Sun hand in hand from the wreck

Some fictions we took to mean fate believe me I know

Don’t be uncouth, be a man

Don’t lie with your eyes, you know I despise that look

You’re home. For God’s sake I'm

Tell the truth to me love, does my hair look as nice

As it did when you once tied it up in your eyes?

Look at me as you say this, don’t look at your phone

Done with your dreams, they won’t last

Thirty winters will pass, you’ll look back

At the woman fifty-year-old you will be proud to have known

'Cause that Sun that beams down as my hands touch the grass

After summers of fasting I feel hunger at last

For the person fifteen-year-old me would be proud to have known

'Cause these plates they smash like waves

Place your smile in mine

And the wine stains hide the tears

Why stay? Hide the

But that breathing you hear, don't mistake it for sighs

Don’t you realize, they’re just battle cries dear

And these lines aren’t wrinkles, dear heart

Hardly knew the words

They’re just dollops of paint on a new work of art

I'm dolled up, love don’t I deserve to just

And as I walk away I know I’ve been through the wars

But that creaking you hear in my bones is not pain, it’s applause

Come on love, please don’t start

Sing your notes, play your part

Then we’ll leave. We were gods

With you, I could summon the gods and the stars

Watch them dance out the plays that we wrote from the heart

And we’d laugh at the ghosts of our fears. We were kids

‘Come at me your blaggards you’d yell

From the back of the gallery

Say goodbye. I am not

‘Come at me, you blaggards’, you’d yell from the banks

Wielding words against make-believe wizards and tanks

And by God love, believe me, I wanted to play too, I did

A drunkard, A daughter, A preacher, God knows how you

You dragged us both into the darkness that grows

Oh dear God

I won’t

But we sunk into water no creature can know

You dragged me along to watch all your shows

Our devils broke rank, and out of the depths came an army

Leave without a fight

I won’t let you turn our last night into this

I'm going to binge-watch a box set, drink wine, reminisce

This isn’t a break-up, dear heart, it’s a season finale

'Cause these plates they smash like waves

Place your smile in mine

And the wine stains hide the tears

Why stay? Hide the

But that breathing you hear, don't mistake it for sighs

Don’t you realize, they’re just battle cries dear

And these lines aren’t wrinkles, dear heart

Hardly knew the words

They’re just dollops of paint on a new work of art

I'm dolled up, love don’t I deserve to just

And as I walk away I know I’ve been through the wars

But that creaking you hear in my bones is not pain, it’s applause

It’s not pain, it’s applause

All it took to unearth in the dust and the dirt

Some release or respite from the heat and the hurt

Was taking the time now and then to ask how I am

And now at the end, at the end of all things

I'm not going to scream, beat my chest at the wind

I'm doing fine