And She Swims

She tried to tell him things had changed
That the music was somehow slower
and she couldn't dance to this beat
Legs tangled, stumbling across his floor
where once the rhythm carried her
Wanted to keep it
Wanted to keep it
Oh, God
Wanted to keep it

Their song ran backward, words all rearranged
and yet he wouldn't stop singing
and the lyrics still made sense to him
But it made him sweat to work so hard
at what had always been an easy job
Needing her there
Pleading her there
and sometimes
hating her there

They found that holding on too tight
kills small birds and love
Kindness between them not shot from the sky
but just trembled and died in their hands
so quietly the moment wasn't even marked
Talking it out
Not talking at all
Talking too much
to silence

He carries the scars like a wounded veteran
of a war he never understood
sometimes bragging, sometimes crying to sleep
She wears her love for him like a warm shawl
wrapping herself and another in its folds
He drinks to forget
She lives to remember
He drowns in regret
and she swims