Atoms

I know you’re going soon
It’s ok, I won’t freak
Can see it in your eyes, you’ve been moving out for weeks
You’ve found a girl, she’s so much prettier than me
She’s much cleverer than me
She’s so much happier than me
You want a lover who takes time over her looks
Not some stupid kid who’s always wrapped up in her books
But can I help it if a sentence makes me cry?
And the pavement makes me cry
And the thought of you and I
Oh, just leave
There’s nothing much I want to say
But close the door
You know how the atmosphere decays my bones
I feel the atoms on my skin
Oh, I feel the matter closing in
From my perch I see the universe as one
See the planets in their glory, slowly dancing with the sun
See my ancestors in monkey costumes fucking on the rocks
See the priestess and her brother and the farmer and his crops
All these sacred histories have led to this one day
When you face me on the stairs and say you have to go away
And time stops like ice where all around it once was hot
So don’t begrudge a girl her books cos they’re all a girl has got
They sit there now
The words unflinching in their strength
You see I only ever read
Cos I wish I was brave as them
And I know these words will never leave me standing on the stairs
Just like my frozen ancestors they always will be there
In print, just like your image on my heart
For ever like the planets light the dark
Just like our world is waltzing with the sun
Just like when this world explodes it makes another one
Oh you, just leave
I always wanted you to be free
But next time you see the planets try and think of me
And this moment on a stairway where I thought that I could see
All the atoms in your lover, she’s much prettier than me
And can I help it if an atom makes me cry?
I can’t help it if she’s happier than I