Lake Michigan

Let's just remember that I moved here for you
For you, okay?
Keep that in mind

I've been playing house-fucking-husband for three years
So you could work at the firm of your dreams
And have a grand fucking time
Wining and dining
The only three rich people
In all of Detroit
So let's not get all high-and-mighty
About sacrifice
Now that I want to go back to Seattle

Which part of our marriage vows
Mentioned indentured servitude?

Which part said 'eternal misery for the husband?'

How could you make me stay here
This whole time
Knowing that the only thing
Keeping me from losing my mind
Was the promise
That after three years
Your contract would be up
You'd find work in Washington
And I could live my life for a little while?

You know what's really sick about all this?

I was actually looking forward to making you suffer
The way I've been suffering

I was going to take
Some kind of perverse joy in it

I mean, this can't be the way a healthy marriage works, can it?

Otherwise wouldn't one of us care
When the other one is unhappy?

Instead we just say--

Well, we'll spend a week at Lake Michigan
In a nice little house
And stretch for things to say to each other
Finally giving up
And reading a thousand books instead

I have read A Tale of Two Cities twice in three days
That means we're looking at a divorce

Because when reading Dickens
Is preferable
Over talking to your spouse
You're fucked, okay?

We
Are
Fucked

. . . . .

You're not going to fix this
With a trip to a lake
And a cooler full of cold cuts
And some board games
And this renewed sense of flirting
Sexy lingerie
That I know you hate wearing

You're not a wife
I'm not a husband
We're not a couple

We're two selfish people
Who were just worried
About dying alone

That's not love

I mean, it's a nice lake
It's a nice house
And your tits still look great, babe
But we're done
I mean, we're fucking done

. . . . .

We came here the first week
We moved to Michigan
And I don't remember anything but you

I don't remember books
Or board games
Or even us talking

I just remember you by the lake
At sunset
Wrapped up in a blanket
Not wanting to let go of my hands

Saying 'Three years--three years'll go by like that.'

Back then I didn't even care
Because they were going to be three years with you

But I had dreams
And those dreams were going to exist
Regardless of you

That must have been the problem

Maybe you should have been my dream
Or I should have been yours or...

Fuck

I never thought back then
About pulling my hand away
And leaving you where you were

It never even crossed my mind

Three years

It only takes three years
To wind up back at Lake Michigan

Feeling like you never should have left
Like you should have just stayed
Right where you were

Because you're so fragile
And what you want, your dreams
They're so fragile that
Taking even one step

Would just shatter it all