Bella

The students are all singing in the street again
To give them their due, they're trying some Springsteen
But they're getting the words wrong
There's a couple doing drinks down at Papillon
Seems perfectly pleasant, they're physically present
But their spark has upped up and gone

Bella looks beautiful as the centrepiece
She's spreading her wings out, flexing her earned clout
But the stars are out of reach
I sit by the water and watch the ferry back
The seasons are changing, long days infiltrating
But I'm barely keeping track

Man, if you could see
How she looked tonight, through my eyes
You'd understand

She's the prudent daughter to my prodigal son
She's the resolute radio playing my mercurial songs
An imperturbable tulip in my shrinking violet bed
The enthralling earworm by which I'm willingly aurally embed

There's a guy doing his worst to pack of cigarettes
In the bar's tacky neon, he's croaking his piece on
How they haven't caught him yet
There's a band racket down on Matthew Street
Nice crowd work in 'No Scrubs but this cavern between us
Makes the song she abhors bittersweet

Mate, you should see
How she looked at me
It severed my line of defence

She's the holy water to my malevolent vermouth
Bearing the foresight of age to deal with my intemperate youth
Surreptitious glances to my tactless, vacant stare
The summer sunset which adroitly has me wholly ensnared

Bud, I don't see
How she looks at me
And feels as I do about her

She's the first on the dancefloor holding my begrudging hand
The pacific defence lawyer to my indignation on the stand
A spring clean wipe-down, where dust settled on the shelf
A panacea pill to some guy void of intent to help himself