We're in It

Well, I hoped I'd recognize your face
So I got there early, found a parking space
And sat in my car like I was casing the place
I thought, "It's not too late, I could cut you loose
I could go home now, offer some excuse"
Then the door opened and there was no mistaking you

You said, "Come in
Take your shoes off and come in"

Poured the drinks, exchanged prerequisites
I am good you said, but the world is shit
So what, we're old men now?
Then I laughed, "No, you're right, it is"
This time, well, it really is

Yeah, "We let it get away," you said
Like the falconer from the poem you read
I just shook my head, feels like waiting around
For the Second Coming
Except nobody's coming

And the talk turned over to life before
To the kindness of strangers and their kitchen floors
How the pain grows sweet and the blood dries burnt orange
The green rooms and the tortilla chips
All the couches caked in ejaculate
How I cringed when you said
At least someone is getting it

Coming
At the same time, coming

And the drinks grew low and your eyes grew dim
Like curtain was pulled so no light gets in
You said, "I'm fine alone, but it's good to see you, man"
I feel cut off from all I have been
But am I the stump or am I the limb?
I was eyeing the door and you noticed it

I said, "I have to be running"
Late for dinner or something
And you thanked me for coming

And the next I saw you was a hospital bed
With a gunshot wound, nurses shaved your head
You were lucky maybe, maybe the opposite
And I was awkward and you were a wreck
You were muttering something underneath your breath
And then I lost my cool, called you an idiot
You said I was such a hypocrite
Someone had to die before I gave a shit
I said, "You're right, but still
If I'm in it, you're in it"

And the tears started coming
And they wouldn't stop coming
Cleansing all our resentments
As if we could go on living
As if we could go on

Don't ever wonder why
Everybody wants to die from time to time
It's better not to ask
Don't shake the nest, don't speak the lie
Because it's always been agreed
Through some ancient alchemy
That the public secret
It secretes that life is worth living
(And it has to be)