These Are Not the Blues   I thought you said we had a plan You said you’d do the best you could I thought you promised Yes We Can You told me that the odds were good Now everything has gone to seed These are not the blues I asked for These are not the blues I need   You told me that you liked it steady We dreamed of all the things we’d do You said that you were finally ready We went and got the same tattoo What happened once we’d done the deed? These are not the blues I asked for These are not the blues I need   We never stopped to ask the price Never counted up the rooms Springtime flowers looked so nice All those colors, all those blooms Garden’s getting full of weeds These are not the blues I asked for These are not the blues I need   You’re moving on to bigger things You’re quite the wheel, I’m just a cog You burned your bridges, spread your wings You killed the cat, you kicked the dog You cut me and you watched me bleed These are not the blues I asked for These are not the blues I need     © Michael Fleming Brattleboro, Vermont July 2015