Sometimes They Attack You, I Guess, et. al.,

Would she be flattered,
if I told her what she came with?
last night the ocean
changed her mind when I met her
and the waves that hit the rocks
got deeper and deeper
til i swam in the wrong direction,
thought she might be floating

I gathered all the matches
and put them in my pockets
the ocean got boring
stopped talking, and dropped it
and I watched for your figure
in a doorway, by the statues
but they didn't move
and neither did you

this time it's different,
don't tell me anything

So I stood on a smaller step
and gathered my conscience
she told me, don't panic,
just breathe like an author
and it shouldn't be awkward
or clumsy or dismal
I just wait for the record
to scatter and flatten

when you were sixteen
you held your wrists up
and sang like a preacher
in the eyes of armageddon
and the world was too big
and you ran out of corners
and the cellphone was dead
and you ran out of quarters
but she wouldn't move
and neither would you
and I wouldn't move
and neither would you

this time it's different,
don't tell me anything

sometimes they attack you, I guess
and the rest.