When We Flee the Burning City

-- I always say that living in Rhode Island is a bit like living in a burning city. Everybody seems to be in a hurry to get out. --

"When We Flee the Burning City"

Don't bother learning her name
Don't bother adapting to the apartment
On the south side
Near the factory
Outside the city limits

No point learning
To learn anything at all
Or adapting to the fall
When we flee the burning city

Don't bother listing the things you enjoy
Toying with the idea of staying
Laying low for another season
Hiding in plain sight
Right behind the monuments
Cement statues seem to move
Faster than you do

Isn't that funny?

Don't run too fast
We have to last long enough
To stuff ourselves into evening gowns
For trips to town cause us to slip
Into bad habits and old lovers
Covering ourselves
In old memories

When we flee the burning city

Watch us jump into empty pools
Cooling off as the sun heats up
Cupping fresh faces into new places
In their consciousness
Confessing to things
Can make us feel young
But before we're done
You may be burned
And all we've learned to do

Is flee

We scream out our names
On tops of parking lots
On jots out on a weeknight
Fighting to stay awake
At the all night diner
Past 'Wait' and 'Still Waiting'
Dating temporarily
Warily assuming
That we're merely grooming
Ourselves for heartbreak

And the tops of buildings
We used to live in
Helps us give into the night
And drive home lighting cigarettes
Out our windows
Being better people
Who don't sleep in so much

We may be out of touch
But we still know how to flee
Three sheets to the wind
And still rescinding promises
We made to ourselves
When we were post-grads
Fads and people seemingly
One and the same
Game parties at the houses
Of people we don't know
Rowing out to the middle of lakes
To see how much swimming we can take
Before we break down and drown
Right outside of town

When we flee the burning city

And on top of the mountain
Stands a man and a woman
Who swore they'd be gone
Long before now
Somehow their plans
Ran out a few miles back
And they lack the maps
Falling for the traps, every one
Done with their lives
And thriving on complacency

Could they be you and me
When we flee the burning city