Cruel to Be Kind

I watched from a distance as you lit up the room
Surely I am not the only one who sees the light that comes from you
And although you lost your voice out there, you found it in the gravel
By the road of dirt that I have often traveled
Oh, you wretched, vivid thing
Please stay off my mind
Don’t you know how cruel it is to be so kind?
All the jewel and fennel, coriander
You gathered where the brook meanders
Past the fire hydrants, road signs and the phone lines
Past the broken spigots, broken bricks
On broken brick roads we won’t fix
Past the schools and cemeteries, public libraries
Well, you shook and took, forsook me like a storm that knew my name
A wind that grew until it blew the stormclouds all away
Oh, you wretched, vivid thing
Please stay off my mind
Don’t you know how cruel it is to be so kind