Bald as love

Because I could not wash you out

I couldn't wash you out my hair

My hair I chopped it off my head

My head I shaved to a bald shine

They swept the hair across the floor

Across the floor into a pile

A pile they threw out with the trash

The trash: love's final resting place

And in the mirror I thought I saw

I saw you turn and walk away

Away from me and so I turned

I turned and walked the other way

Between you and me

Pride stands between you and me

like a bad smell

of a body in a well

the clock sounds the death knell

marking the descent to hell

of what could have been, well,

good.

I can't let go of my illusions

my school-girl fantasies

my feminist sympathies

my chauvinist suspicions

of all your intentions

You can't let go of your expectations

of sweet, obedient acquiescence

or whatever your true ideal of a woman is

(I can no longer pretend to understand

how your mind works)

So we keep vigil at a deathbed

pushing poison to hasten code red

a slanted rehash of what was said

a gassy pair of talking heads

Surely death will do us part

each with half a heart

but pride intact