Martha

tom waits

operator: number please • it's been so many years
she'll remember my old voice while I fight the tears
hello ? hello there, is it Martha ? this is old Tom Frost
and I am calling long distance • don't worry bout the cost
cause it's been forty years or more now : Martha please recall
meet me out for coffee and we'll talk about it all

I feel so much older now • you're much older too
how's your husband and how's your kids ? you know that I got married too ?
lucky that you found someone to make you feel secure
cause we were both so young and foolish : now we are matured

I was always so impulsive • I guess that I still am
but all that really mattered then was that I was a man
I guess that our being together was never meant to be
but Martha • Martha : I love you can't you see ?

those were days of roses • poetry and prose and
Martha : all I had was you and all you had was me
there were no tomorrows • we'd packed away our sorrows
and we saved them for a rainy day

and I remember quiet evenings trembling close to you ...