You hung out a curtain of flames
You hung out a curtain of flames from your window,
a white flag calling for help
a red flag saying Stop me, a yellow flag saying Fever
mad colours saying Hear me
your silent house on fire saying Notice
I am living in vain
my life's used up
I have no purpose.
Take me with you to your mountain in the sky
where the clouds grow stronger than moonlight.
Don't leave me here in the suburbs
where I'll rot like the leaves on the thick carpet of grass.
You shook your carpet of flames from your window
in defiance of the firemen.
You sent the thin sparks to dance in the air
like slow ballerinas.
You liked it when they swarmed
you came alive and said, Look,
I am burning, I am going up fast
just like a house on fire.
But it moved slower than you hoped, more deliberately.
It sleepwalked its way up the passage,
it stopped at your bedroom door
where you'd walled yourself in.
Nowhere to hide.
You let it in.
Invited it to go through your papers
and then you showed it the door.
It stood on the porch and lit up the balcony.
Here's where we played
that famous scene. So what
muttered the fire.
You ran ahead and it
followed. You guessed right and it
spread. Just kept on burning.
Like a house on fire.