Margaret Downe

Margaret in the morning
Sleeping on her side
Tossing men like nickels into
The ever rising tide
I heard she was a dentist
Before she fell in love
Freezing leaden smiles
Just to give them up

Margaret at the office
Margaret at eighteen
She said "Sit right down a minute"
She said "Let me clean your teeth"
So we settled down in Bozeman
In the corner of the world
We raised a couple children
But we lost a little girl

Heartbreak in Montana
We slowly grew apart
A grocery clerk in Moncton
As she was dancing in the bar
You rushed him to the courtroom
Before the bed was cold
And defrosted out my windshield
When you smiled and let me know

The many cavities pulling
At our marriages tender mouth
And at the root of all the problems
Was a man across the canal
Margaret left the practice
Late in '86
I left behind the midwest
And forgot we ever kissed

I knew she changed her number
But couldn't shake the cough
The doctor gave her six weeks
Which only made her shrug it off
Resting in her fifth week
I brought her buttercups
There was too much to say between us
And I'd only fuck it up
So, I stared up at the ceiling
And I held her little hands
And you knew that I forgave you
For making other plans

Margaret in the morning
Sleeping on her side
Strolls into the waves
Of an ever rising tide