Collateral Damage, 2

I remember when we first met

You spent a week’s wages

To buy me a dress.

I’d never have let you

If I knew what you were up to…

I saw your girlfriend at the supermarket

Pregnant, belly hanging out

Looking like a second hand orphan

I think it’s some new fashion, this

Non dressing

She had that triumphant look

That lasts a moment

When you’ve got that special thing

He put inside you

All to yourself

And everyone knows it,

But

It dies, that pride, like a sunset.

She was in an old t-shirt of yours,

I recognised it.

It’s been so long

Since I suckled that honey,

No, it’s not jealousy-

But sweetness of the memory

Of when we first met.

I knew for certain that you loved me

And you lied and schemed

To surprise me.

I see her now, carrying around

Everything you didn’t want to be…

And I think it’s strange, how we allow ourselves

To be caught and entangled

What we call love begins to strangle

And you're looking so weary, now
You buy things obligingly

But

When you were innocent

I’ll never forget,
You spent a week’s wages

To buy me a dress.