Short Stories, Long Odds

I know that she’s a little older
and maybe that’s what made you bolder
but now I’m sure your love is colder
while you wait on bail

I’ll bet she smiled thin, like a wire
stooping as she set the fire
did you maybe kick the tires
before you went to jail

We spend our lives in search of a better
version of ourselves, a vision that matches the myth –
but we all fall short of what we think we ought to be
and how we ought to be to the ones we’re with.

A different life would find you free
and being what you’re supposed to be
instead of on an arson spree
to which the cops respond

Thought it up around the house and
brought it up, took off her blouse and
now you’re both out twenty thousand
dollars on the bond.

We spend our lives in search of a better
version of ourselves, a vision that matches the myth –
but we all fall short of what we think we ought to be
and how we ought to be to the ones we’re with.