Sticks & Stones, Girl

Here I am, hardly breathing in at all

I cough when I can and that's about all

I am this man and though I turn the tape to a happier song

My face can't find a smile because it's been looking too long

You arrive like a locust swarm

You devastated me and now when you leave the room

My heart, head, hands and all forms

Go from red-hot blood to bone dry and lukewarm

You're the sticks and stones, girl

You're the fire and flames

I might be half-dead and half-born, girl

But whales start singing when I hear your name

I'm heaped with hate like acid rain

Nothing can restrain the loathing and disgust I have

And there is no one I distrust

More than the happy whores who buy and trade

Crawling on all fours, backwards into holes and fires

That wealth and self-congratulations made

You're the sticks and stones, girl

You're the fire and flames

You're the punishment, the pleasure, the employment and the leisure

You're the sweet conversation and the cutting names

Heart, head, hands and all forms

Went from red-hot blood to bone dry and lukewarm

Whales stopped singing and the ships were bringing in toadstools

And moss instead of sugar beet and corn

And all the girls in the world were distorted and deformed

When the first leech was let loose and my jealousy was born

You're the sticks and stones, girl

You're the fire and flames