“Just Hanging Out”

It was a late summer

The leaves were beginning to brown

I heard you’re with her

You said “we’re just hanging out”

It was foretold in a dream

A girl we both know

Local bar, streetlights gleam, a bell rings

“It’s just a dream, let it go”

A little rumour

Passed through to me

From an adviser or a saboteur

Something I didn’t believe

Her eyes are like mine

They bask in your warmth

But you sit by my side

So it must be all talk

And I noticed her gaze

Pierced towards me

My principles kept me in place

Against her hostility

Easter party, a western bar

A game of pool, the dogs bark

A kiss on her lips, the death knell rings

And I can’t believe a thing

The following afternoon

Arriving in mourning

Your backseat, I’m querying,

“What was that kiss about?”

You say you’re “just hanging out”

You’re just going with the flow

But you fancy her so

I veil myself with pseudo-gallantry

Like you didn’t ignite affable catastrophe

Recurring ephialtes

Beats this achromic reality

Days of famine

I just can’t believe it

Because I saw the blood

In my sleep

I felt the magpie swoop

During the spring heat

I noticed those glances

Through the Christmas rush

You left go of our hands

Now I’m out of touch

Blindsided, seeing half-truths

There’s nothing I can do

Because I didn’t doubt you

When you said, “we’re just hanging out’