Inmates

When you said you loved me, did you really love me or did the words just spill out like drool on my pillow. €˜Cause I was naked when you said those words, but I felt covered in your whispered worship. And as you passed out fast on my shoulder, I imagined a child waiting so sad and still for his mom to arrive. Did she leave you an orphan, in that big, brown leather chair? Said, €œ Don€™t you move a muscle, kid, I€™ll be back in twenty years,€? You were scared, you were lonely, but you must€™ve been aware; life is a series of calluses, this is just another layer. So, build€™em up, tough it out, yeah, that€™s your skin €" don€™t let anyone under there.
When you said you needed me, did you really need me or was it just someone €" oh, you€™d take anything. Am I first on that list of yours, or am I second, or third? So, who€™s that ahead of me, some harlot from Pittsburgh? Or Detroit, Santa Fe, or San Diego? I know you€™re so alone, but how much affection does one guy really need?
Did you date a lot in high school? Were you always chasing girls? Couldn€™t you find some young valentine to steal your heart for good? Were you content, or contemptible? Are your memories pleasant, or is it a string of endless flings of bitter resentment. Seems that what you want and what you need doesn€™t mean a thing, we€™re just here for the taking.
When you said you€™d hurt me, did you think you hurt me? Are you really that cocky? Oh, what a heartbreaker! Well, I€™ve got my armor €" yeah, I€™ve been through some battles before €" and I met your old girlfriend, she said, €œBaby, don€™t bother.€? She told me you told her you€™d hurt her€.funny, how familiar. So, how much of this relationship was rehearsed?
Did you act out as a child? Were you always crying wolf? Attention-starved, you tried too hard to get someone to look. Now you€™re the wolf in second-hand clothing; I€™m the sheep in a pleated skirt. It€™s an awkward form of payback, but if it works for you €" it works. It€™s that I recognize your off-white lies, still, I lie beside you €" and that€™s what really hurts.
When you said you€™d leave me€well, why haven€™t you left me? What are we still doing here, so desperate for company? There€™s a greyhound on Jackson Street, there€™s an airport in Council Bluffs€hell, there€™s a car in the driveway €" fifty ways to get lost.
But as I hold you and listen to you sleeping, I€™m starting to wonder if you really believe that you€™d ever really leave. Would you leave me, and orphan, in that big, brown leather chair? The one you€™ve lugged around from town to town for all these years. It€™s the trophy of your childhood, like a shark€™s tooth or gator skin boots €" but this one holds you prisoner €" it holds me prisoner too. What we need to set us free is to let go of each other €" let go of everything.
When I said I loved you, it was because I loved you. When I said I needed you, well, I really need you. Yeah, I guess you hurt me, for once you€™re a man of your words. Well, guess what €" I€™m leaving €" I can€™t be your prisoner.
I won€™t.