Measure

One little bar and I'm stepping two far notches back
in space, in time
in phrases muttered underneath breath salted with whiskey
and cigarettes and passion undenied


because no one else was there, my love
no one else was there
except that cheap ticking motel clock
and the banging from the other room
we might've mistaken for our own tall beats
pounding in each other's chests.
secretly, i was terrified 
as i watched your shadow from the wall
carefully, most dignified
made me rise and rise and rise and fall


One little bar and I'm humming the tune
that groped the strings I knew so well
lucid language spoken in sleep, in my ear
never seems to vacate my memory.


and i see your face most constantly
in the burrowed brows, i hear your raspy voice
telling me how sweet i am, over and over like a drum
i know this, and i know you
as well as you let me know you
that no matter how much it repeats and turns me on
i cannot press stop, i just don't know how


One little bar and i'm fast asleep
after years of drinking and staying awake
cautious not to let the night take me over,
ruin me like kisses out the door, never to be found again
till i'm old and pale, too cold to know that once i had you
in that small fragment of time