PARENTHESES (2007)

(final lyric copyright Jen Foster/Z. Mulls 2010)

There’s a half a moment
Between the drinks and the deck
And I think you noticed
But there’s no time to check
The shadows the lights make
Are strange and abstract
And you make a joke
Just to watch me react

And I could choke to death
On the words I don’t say
I could drown in the thoughts
That I don’t give away
It’s a trial, it’s a taunt, it’s a tease
Living in parentheses
Is anybody noticing?

I stand in a shadow
The party goes on
I move to the light
And your shadow has gone
There’s a breath I took
That I’ll never get back
And there’s a film in my head
That is fading to black

And I could choke to death
On the words I don’t say
I could drown in the thoughts
That I don’t give away
It’s a trial, it’s a taunt, it’s a tease
Living in parentheses
Is anybody noticing?

There’s a half a moment
When you’re saying goodnight
And you leave her shadow
And appear in the light
You make a joke
Which I don’t understand
Because I’m brought up short
By the warmth of your hand

And I could choke to death
On the words I don’t say
I could drown in the thoughts
That I don’t give away
It’s a trial, it’s a taunt, it’s a tease
Living in parentheses
Is anybody noticing?

**************************

(original bridge, not included in the final recorded version)

Life happens at the margins
In the pauses
And asides
Fate whispers in the corridors
But who hears what he confides