There were shadows in the shadows.
The stars were loud and bright.
There were a hundred thousand headlights
in the parking lot that night.
There were mandolins and heroin
and a girl who nearly died.
The night I tried to fight you
I could have killed you if I tried.
You told me to meet you at eight o’clock.
I wore your favorite dress
and your favorite shade of lipstick …
you did not look impressed.
And out of all the ones who loved you
it was I loved you the most
They just loved your flesh and blood;
I loved your flesh and blood and ghost.
And the liquor bottles emptied
and they shattered on the ground
and you cursed the bar where your parents met
and you staggered all around.
And I seem to remember some dancing;
you were dancing with someone.
Dashboards, a razor, some powder
and boys playing with guns.
I woke up on the pavement
and blood was in my hair.
The night I tried to fight you,
you could have killed me then and there.
I got up from the pavement
and something broke inside my chest
and my veins were filled with love and fear
and the purest loneliness.
And God, how I missed my mother
and I wish I’d never run.
I wiped the tears from off my face
and walked towards Highway One.