Chestnut

The facts of my life then, laid out like tea leaves
Your mouth glistened like a kitchen
Your adam's apple rattled like a kettle
I put soapy bubbles on my face
I looked just like father christmas

Twelve others wounded with drink on the deck
I haven't slept through the night once this year yet
I said I liked your smile
No wait, that's not right
It's that you looked like you walked out of the movies

Crying and shaking, shaking and crying
I was your witness, I was your witness
I was your witness then

For just a moment I forgot your chestnut hair
In the mirror, in the frame of a desiccated shack
On stilts like a monster gaping mouth
Rising up out of the south
Rising up out of the south

And the hall smelled of new shoes