The Old Apartment

The old apartment with the curtains that my mother made

You hung the picture that I painted back in seventh grade

The night we took it down

The water all turned brown

Too bad we never moved uptown

You'd crawl home late and use the phone while I'd pretend to sleep

You'd call that girl from work we both said looked like Meryl Streep

The walls were paper-thin

I felt them closing in

I never asked you where you'd been

And when

You'd say you weren't like other men

I'd ask why you chose me

You'd smile at me again

And then I'd know

We'd felt like grown-ups making plans and talking over tea

We called it Fisher Price's My First Infidelity

You'd sing a nursery rhyme

We'd play our pantomime

You told me all we had was time

I read the note you wrote the last time that you came around

You said our love's a paper plane that barely left the ground

Your spelling made me cry

I laughed and let it fly

I watched it sail into the sky

That's all

You were just a picture on the wall

And clothes in the closet

I'd probably help you pack

But hurry back

Hurry back

Hurry back

Hurry back