Living For Other People

Don’t you ever wonder, don’t you ever care
That you’re living for other people?
Maybe it’s time that we ask the question here?
Are you living for other people?

When the 'I' gets lost in the 'us'
When the 'me' gets swept out to sea
Are you doing this for yourself?
Or are you doing it for somebody else?

Don’t you ever wonder, don’t you ever care
That you’re living for other people?
Maybe it’s time that we ask the question here?
Are you living for other people?

I’m not attached to my attachments
I’m not obliged to tow the line
And all those bachelors, unfettered
They look to me, they’re doing fine

When the 'I' gets lost in the 'us'
When the 'me' gets swept out to sea
Are you doing this for yourself?
Or are you doing it for somebody else?

North East, t’ward Rotherhithe, nimbus, expectant
Grey as a bad tooth, rolls over the Thames
The dregs of the morning, sacked and bound
Here and there, a glint of sun
Like scissors through canvas

I am pacing these streets, ashen of beard
Blown around like a leaf
Void and devoid, unpossessing
I need no map, no companion
Just the soft, gentle light, the stir of the breeze
I am most happy alone beneath these Victorian railway arches
With a smoke from a tin
And a tea in a styrofoam cup
Phone in airplane mode

In the bliss of the monotony of days
Passive, watching
These women, never ever having suffered charm
These knotted men with upturned hearts
Brooding over losses
Tangled like tape from a broken cassette
These days, fading, weathered Polaroids
These days, fading, weathered Polaroids