Shrewd Magpie

Why don't you ever wanna play?

I'm tired of this piece of string

You sleep as much as I do now

And you don't eat much of anything

I don't know who you're talking to

I made a search through every room

But all I found was dust that moved

In shadows of the afternoon

And listen

About those bitter songs you sing

They're not helping anything

They won't make you strong

So we should open up the house

Invite the tabby two doors down

You could ask your sister if

She doesn't bring her basset hound

Ask the things you shouldn't miss

Tape hiss and the modern man

Cold war and card catalogs

To come join us if they can

For girly drinks and parlor games

We'll pass around the easy lie

Of absolutely no regrets

And later maybe you could try

To let your losses dangle off

The sharp edge of a century

We'll talk about the weather

Or how the weather use to be

And I'll cater

With all the birds that I can kill

Let their tiny feathers fill

Disappointment

I'll lie down

And lick the sorrow from your skin

Scratch the terror and begin

To believe you're strong

All you ever want to do is drink and watch TV

Frankly that thing doesn't really interest me

I swear I'm going to bite you hard and taste your tinny blood

If you don't stop the self-defeating lies you've been repeating since the day you brought me home

I know you're strong

It had something to do with the rain

Leaching loamy dirt

And the way the back lane came alive

Half moon whispered, "Go"

For a while I heard you

Missing steps in the street

And your anger pleading

In an uncertain key

Singing the sound that you found for me

When the winter took the tips of my ears

Found this noisy home

Full of pigeons and places to hide

And when the voices die

I emerged to watch abandoned machines

Waiting for their men to return

I remember the way

I would wait for you

To arrive with kibble

And a box full of beer

How I'd scratch the empties

Desperate to hear

You make the sound that you found for me

After scrapping with the ferals and the tabby

Let you brush my matted fur

How I'd knead into your chest while you were sleeping

Shallow breathing made me purr

But I can't remember the sound that you found for me

I can't remember the sound that you found for me

I can't remember the sound

Now that the treatment and antidepressants

And seven months sober have built me a bed

In the back of your brain where the memories flicker

And I paw at the synapses, bright bits of string

You should know I am with you, know I forgive you

Know I am proud of the steps that you've made

Know it will never be easy or simple

Know I will dig in my claws when you stray

So let us rest here like we used to

In a line of late afternoon sun

Let it rest, all you can't change