Becoming the Lastnames

Don't take the following words as reverence for tradition

I've learned to pick my battles by losing most I've fought

The more mores subverted, the more I sense I'm missing

And I'll always do it my way, even if that's just the same way I was taught

I'll bring home the bread, and you'll stay home and bake it

Weeding out the garden where the milestones gather moss

Crack a smile at my vows and whisper: Wow, can you believe we really made it?

As I give up on dodging rice and fold my cape, I say: Obviously not

But I want to be just like my parents before I was born

Oh, can we be just like my parents?

I know you don't want kids, but think about a daughter

We could name her Gwendolyn, like mom would have called me

I'm not sure yet myself, but I learned from a good father

Yeah, I mean, sure, they messed me up, but I think that's just the gig

And maybe it's just some hormones that kick in in your late twenties

But I have laid a lot of women, and now I'd like to just lay down

And marriage always scared me, but I'd like to have a last love

And love can last a pretty good long while, yeah, I've seen it around

Oh, can we be just like my parents when I was young?

Why can't we be just like my parents?

So tongue out of my cheek now, I'm done pulling faces

Iconoclasm wanes, my cynicism tires

But what do I know 'bout forever when so far I've been so fleeting?

Babe, my frontal lobe's done growing, this might just be how I'm wired

But now we're kissing before brushing, smile with our whole faces

If you want a hyphen last name, I guess I don't mind the cadence

I've seen home videos, I was there back in the 80's

And if I'm just them and they back then could do it, why can't I?

Just like my parents in due time

Imagine me, just like my parents, yeah, right

'Cause I've made more mistakes than simple empty moments

Each one as out of character as you know I tend to be

There'll be scalpers at the cemetery gates, with all my would-be widows weeping

I'd have forgotten all their names, so why should you remember me?

But if we grow old together, will you talk to my headstone?

That is, assuming that I die first (which is fair) and assuming I don't leave

Close enough to forever, I guess, to prove what I hope

I mean, otherwise, how am I to believe?