Nightlife IV

Here it is: the plug-in
Just when you thought it was done
We’re living the scary hours
My conscience on the run

Your throat can’t feel the swelling
Behind the shots of rum
Nightlife's breath rests on one question only:
Do you have a piece of gum?

Over she comes from the corner
Saw your glance from afar
In between is a window
With the stale scent of cigar

Now she’s hiding in my nightlife
Just another pawn on the board
Beneath her shoes the checkered pattern
That pits us both in war

In the morning I could wake next to you
First thought is its just a dream
But careful in my nightlife, honey
No one hears you scream

Welcome to the game of neverending chess
Where there is no friend but foe
Your nightlife is the everlasting story
Of the one whose pain did grow

At night he used to say his prayers
And ask his father why
Why they do they abandon me
And the tear dropped from his eye

He’s hiding in your nightlife, true
And next to your bed is a shovel
Look inside an empty room
And dig yourself out of trouble

Take a stroll through nightlife’s garden
And remember that you’ll sweat
Try to kill the pain with tequila
As you imagine the corvette

It’s the vehicle of the nightlife
Cruising the highway’s ebb and flow
Weaving in and out of traffic
Empty responses to echoing hello

But as you are driving through the bar
The engine begins to stall
You ponder the game of nightlife
And park yourself against the wall

Nightlife’s one companion
Is hidden by the fog
Your car is stuck in neutral
Here in the land of smog

Your vision’s getting blurry
As smoke pervades the air
Perhaps she’d see you smiling
If those nights she would have cared

Consider all the people
Who’ve already gone to bed to rest
Consider all the nightlifes
That are equal to the test

Consider that she’s no different
Sparkling smile and twirling hair
This nightlife? It’s a repeat
Consider headlights and their glare

The last thing that he saw was this
Before he took his last shot
He goofily grinned at the bartender
And said, “Give me all you’ve got”

I play this scene like my favorite record
With a scratch across my favorite song
The tune always gets interrupted
When I ask you to sing along

But the smoke has cleared the building
And all its patrons leave its space
The lights are turned back on
Isolated and awkward in nightlife’s place…

The room spins and spins and spins
As much as the memories wish to be
Flung from their existence
The centripetal force keeps them rotating
On the peripheral
As he tries to forget that he wears his pain
On his sleeve
That’s the smell of Versace…and anguish

Perhaps the light is enough right now
For the group has decided to share a cab
Minutes from now the nightlife will retire
Minutes from now
Endless, dragging Minutes that laugh
In the face of largeness
Those who contemplate the nightlife
Swirl around the edge of its vortex

Vortex that knows no time
Hidden Vortex amongst the tall trees
Deliver us safely from our nightlife
Help us to see the fading light
Like the stars at night
Consider the rainbows and the shimmering stars
The Santa Barbara winds and the Fast Cars
The piercing November Nebraska wind,
Nightlife over and over again
Consider me too when I get sucked to your center
Whether it’s hot August or cold December
Don’t let the waters be lukewarm in my life
Let my thoughts cut deeply like the blade of a knife
Consider the tempest as the blood drops from my wrist
Consider that it is one of many, in nightlife’s twists
The life is fleeting in this nightlife of mine
Slowly I see the blood change back to wine
And his nightlife becomes mine

Oft you never noticed
When his words began to slur
Staring into the mirror of the nightlife
Of the pain I must endure

It’s a mirror that looks no different
No matter who looks into it
It spins the nightlife like a yo-yo
You are the string that runs through it

You are the fiber of the nightlife
When you have to call the cab
You’re the union boss who makes the call
That your best friend is a scab

Crossing the picket line of your life
Crossing all your hopes and fears
Crossing everything you believe in
Crossing the fiber of your years

The game is final jeopardy
And the category is “Nightlife” too
He can’t remember the answer
When the answer is “Nightlife,” too

And because you didn’t notice
Or ask to help him out
His words a distant echo
When he asked for help by shout

Those minutes have started conspiring
There dance is almost up
Your nightlife is the image you see
While staring into your red cup

Perhaps it’s a mix of jack and coke
Perhaps it’s the last droplets of wine
Perhaps it’s the beer you spilled on your neighbor
Don’t say sorry, everything’s just fine

Perhaps it’s a shot of tequila
As awkward is it may sound
Some last bit of alcohol you stole
When you thought no one was around

But nightlife was always watching
And tugging at the strings
Warning you of the dangers
Of collecting beautiful things

You lie down in your bed
Praying tomorrow to start anew
But what is going to happen
When Nightlife says, “Adieu”?