Red Rose, Black, Words and Music By Brian McCaskill

Words and Music by Brian McCaskil

Staring at a Coffee Cup

I’m writing this under ideal conditions
Scribbled in an alley – 2 am
Rotten, dirty, beautiful
It’s ok though, a lot of profound things have been scribbled in an alley at 2 am
Or so I’m told.

What I said – did you get it?
Or is it being swallowed by the past when it begins to reappear
Like the time I tried to wipe away your tear,
And my finger caught on fire.

Was there something I did, did I ruin something fine?
Like the time we played cards and I stole all the queens
Forgive me, I was just a machine, trying to be seen,
In this scheme, In this dream.

Do you remember forgetting or did you forget?
It’s alright, I’ll tell you again, some other time
When the season’s changed, and the sun ain’t so bright.
And we can escape, somewhere we’d never been
It’ll be better then

I either said too much, or not nearly enough
When you danced to me singing something I never heard
A long time ago.

I found myself staring a hole in my coffee cup
And telling myself to stare a little longer
The things you do the most are most often the things you regret
I guess I be regretting soon, but that ain’t bad
That’s how your suppose to live
Or at least I’m told

Febuary, 2002