School Night

She went over to his apartment, clutching her decision
He said, Did you come here to tell me goodbye?
So she built a skyscraper of procrastination
And then she leaned out the twenty-fifth floor window for her reply

And she felt like an actress just reading her lines
When she finally said, Yes it's really goodbye this time
Far below was the blacktop and the tiny toy cars
And it all fell so fast, and it all fell so far

And she said, You are a miracle but that is not all
You are also a stiff drink and I am on call, yeah
You are a party and I am a school night
And I'm lookin' for my door key but you are my porch light

And you'll never know, dear just how much I loved you
You'll probably think this was just my big excuse
But I stand committed to a love that came before you
And the fact that I adore you is but one of my truths

What of the mother whose house is in flames
And both of her children are in their beds crying
And she loves them both with the whole of her heart
But she knows she can only carry one at a time?

She's choking on the smoke of unthinkable choices
And she is haunted by the voices of so many desires
She's bent over from the business of begging forgiveness
While frantically running around putting out fires

But then what kind of scale compares the weight of two beauties
The gravity of duties or the ground speed of joy
Tell me what kind of gauge can quantify elation?
What kind of equation could I possibly employ?

And you'll never know, dear just how much I loved you
You probably think this was just my big excuse
But I stand committed to a love that came before you
And the fact that I adore you is just one of my truths

And so I, I'm goin' home to please the one I so love pleasing
And I don't expect he'll have much sympathy for my grieving
But I guess that this is the price that we pay for the privilege of living
For even a day in a world with so many things worth believing in