He wakes up besides himself, she’s beside the phone Asking him to leave she says she wants to be alone He wonders how a heart could turn so quickly into stone That only hours before was soft and tender No one has to tell him twice, he knows the score He walks on down the hallway as others have before Whose letters lie unopened on the table by the door Each one labelled please return to sender
And she turns up the radio and tunes it off the station And sinks into her latest affectation
Outside on the pavement beneath the fading stars He tries to remember where it was he parked his car It could be nearly anywhere he thinks it isn’t far So he takes a chance and heads towards the sunrise He reconstructs the night’s events and puts them into place He recalls the way she moved and the look upon her face When her senses were exploding as they locked in the embrace Of lovers anticipating goodbyes
And she lies back and thinks about another situation Deep into her latest affectation
He observes the patterns, he notes how they recur How he’s always drawn to women that make him think of her With a certain way of walking and a taste for lace and fur And he structures different ways to treat them badly With some he plays the father, with some he plays the child He tells them things he once told her and remembers how she smiled Sometimes he’s indifferent, sometimes he’s beguiled But he leaves them when they say they love him madly
And she surrounds herself with clowns Who watch with fascination While she demonstrates her latest affectation
Sometimes when they meet outside office hours To analyze the weaknesses of those who bring them flowers The distances dissolve and they climb down from their towers And flirt briefly with the kind of love that could be He knows it’s just for now but for now he doesn’t care With her head upon his shoulder and her dress upon his chair Then he thinks about the men she loves when he’s not there And remembers things are never what they should be
And she turns up the radio and tunes it off the station And walks back to her latest affectation