"FRONT-YARD FRIEND"

 © 2009 Oliver John-Rodgers (OJR) 

I’m speaking of failures 

You’re speaking like a sailor 

I can’t help but find it cute 

And if you want me to 

I’ll tape up my mouth 

And we’ll never talk of this again 

Is that what I am 

Your taped-mouth friend? 

You’re drunk in the shower 

You’re calling me a coward 

So finish up my coffee 

If we stay up all night 

I’m sure we’ll catch the sunrise 

And I’ll need that gray tape once again 

‘Cause that’s all I am 

Your taped-up friend 

But on the way back home 

On the radio, a poem 

From a man sad and drunk with lust 

And he cried, “What more is love 

If not trust?” 

I’ve got one road to drive on 

Let bygones be bygones 

Forget about the angry words 

My alibi’s a fuel light 

Says I’ll be home by midnight 

Then maybe I’ll turn on my phone 

Is that what I am 

Your phone-call friend? 

I stop for apple cider 

The boys who are inside are 

Laughing at the look of my clothes 

I’ve heard it all so often 

The words they say dissolve in 

The hatred on the tips of their tongues 

But you’d be so happy 

To know I’m so happy 

But I’ve been thinking about that radio poem 

O to fall for your smell and your touch 

Though I’m just a friend 

And that’s not much 

But when we lie on the lawn 

With one right and two wrongs 

And the world seems only to spin 

I don’t mind that I’m 

Just your front-yard friend