Sticks & Stones, Girl

Here I am, hardly breathing in at all
I cough when I can and that's about all
I am this man and though I turn the tape to a happier song
My face can't find a smile because it's been looking too long

You arrive like a locust swarm
You devastated me and now when you leave the room
My heart, head, hands and all forms
Go from red-hot blood to bone dry and lukewarm

You're the sticks and stones, girl
You're the fire and flames
I might be half-dead and half-born, girl
But whales start singing when I hear your name

I'm heaped with hate like acid rain
Nothing can restrain the loathing and disgust I have
And there is no one I distrust
More than the happy whores who buy and trade
Crawling on all fours, backwards into holes and fires
That wealth and self-congratulations made

You're the sticks and stones, girl
You're the fire and flames
You're the punishment, the pleasure, the employment and the leisure
You're the sweet conversation and the cutting names

Heart, head, hands and all forms
Went from red-hot blood to bone dry and lukewarm
Whales stopped singing and the ships were bringing in toadstools
And moss instead of sugar beet and corn
And all the girls in the world were distorted and deformed
When the first leech was let loose and my jealousy was born

You're the sticks and stones, girl
You're the fire and flames