In the Twilight

We sat together in the parlor.
The sunset fell into her tea.
And if I saw her wedding ring
it didn’t mean a thing.
I could have sworn she’d lived a hundred years with me.
Don’t judge me, friends, for what I’m going to tell you.
It’s easier than you’d think to be confused
when the evening shadows blurred
I felt so close to her
in the twilight, when your mind plays tricks on you.

As in a dream, I followed her up the staircase
to the room where her husband lay in bed.
And the two of us we crept
up beside him where he slept
and we held a pillow down over his head.
There was stillness in the dark air all around me.
Then I turned and saw she had disappeared from view.
So I lay down next to him
as my eyes began to swim
in the twilight, when your mind plays tricks on you.

I wish to God I’d never met her.
But somehow I just can’t seem to quit her.
Because I know that if I run
she’ll tell the world what I have done.
So for three long years I’ve stuck around
and I bought a place on the outside of town
where I stay inside all day till the sun goes down …

In the evenings sometimes I go out walking
where the road bends up towards her place.
And often times I see
her walking up to me
with the last rays of daylight on her face.
And we go that way a mile together in silence
as natural as any couple you ever knew.
And I think, maybe it turned out well
but it gets so hard to tell
in the twilight, when your mind plays tricks on you
in the twilight, when your mind plays tricks on you
in the twilight, when your mind plays tricks on you.

Tam Lin