How Long

Melissa floats on her back
Exhales into that marble sky
Three months of cops and blacktops
Turn to air with every sigh
We’re spitting pits into the grass now
How long can a sweetness last now
How long 'til this is the past we can’t believe we’re looking back on?
Someone screams «a water snake!»
It’s slicing the skin of the lake
With many others in its wake
How many were there?
I can’t say
We strip our suits off for the day
How long can a sweetness stay
How long 'til we look back and say
We can’t believe we lived that way
The storm corrals us to our cars
Lik a wet jaw snapping herding dog
With a crack the lightning starts
And bits of hail bounc off the tar
We’re driving cringing with every pelt
How long 'til a sweetness melts
How long 'til there rings a bell
How long 'til there rings a bell
How long 'til there rings a bell
That signals us
Return from hell