I know what you're doing, I see it all too clear I only taste the saline when I kiss away your tears You really had me going, wishing on a star But the black holes that surround you are heavier by far I believed in your confusion, you were so completely torn Well it must have been that yesterday was the day that I was born There's not much to examine, there's nothing left to hide You really can't be serious if you had to ask me why I say goodbye...

'Cause I am barely breathing And I can't find the air I don't know who I'm kidding Imagining you care And I could stand here waiting A fool for another day But I don't suppose it's worth the price, worth the price The price that I would pay

Everyone keeps asking, what's it all about? I used to be so certain and I can't figure out What is this attraction? I only feel the pain There's nothing left to reason and none left to blame Will it ever change?

'Cause I am barely breathing And I can't find the air I don't know who I'm kidding Imagining you care And I could stand here waiting A fool for another day But I don't suppose it's worth the price, worth the price The price that I would pay But I'm thinking it over anyway...

I've come to find I may never know Your changing mind Is it friend or foe?

I rise above Or sink below With every time You come and go Please don't come and go

'Cause I am barely breathing And I can't find the air I don't know who I'm kidding Imagining you care And I could stand here waiting A fool for another day But I don't suppose it's worth the price, worth the price The price that I would pay But I'm thinking it over anyway...

which is true... I am barely breathing today.

Today, my love, leaves are thrashing the wind just as pedestrians are erecting again the buildings of this drab forbidding city, and our lives, as I lose track of them, are the lives of others derailing in time and getting things done. Impossible to make sense of any one face or mouth, though each distance is clear, and you are miles from here. Let your pure space crowd my heart, that we might stay awhile longer amid the flying debris. This moment, I swear it, isn't going anywhere

Because it all just breaks apart, and the pieces scatter and rearrange without much fanfare or notice.

Because you can¡¯t and don¡¯t remember the step that kicked up dust and left this planet¡ªyou¡¯d give up even more now.

Because the body itself¡ªthe heart¡¯s

not dead but deeper, wrapped up in curtains, a different color, among the railings and the pigeons, the rooftops and walls¡ª

for all you know it¡¯s a question of bread

or beer.

Because even love

returns. The city¡¯s all brightness

and shadow, deckle-edged, bluer than air¡ªthere's no help anywhere¡ªyou no longer know how to listen.

And love says, love¡ªmidnight to midnight,

already ablaze. And the boulevard¡ªwide-open. And the well- stocked crowdless market, and a lone taxi blears.

Even happiness¡ªthe way anger¡¯s come back to roost again. And joy, though joy¡¯s not in the ear or the eye. On this walk.

The gulls hover offshore and the islands are speckled with fire.

Even love, even because.