School Night Lyrics - Revelling / Reckoning - Ani Difranco

she went over to his apartment 

clutching her decision 

and he said, did you come here to tell me goodbye? 

so she built a skyscraper of procrastination 

and then she leaned out the twenty-fifth floor window 

of her reply 

and she felt like an actress 

just reading her lines 

when she finally said 

yes. it's really goodbye this time 

and far below was the blacktop 

and the tiny toy cars 

and it all fell so fast 

and it all fell so far 

and she said: 

you are a miracle but that is not all 

you are also a stiff drink and i am on call 

you are a party and i am a school night 

and i'm lookin' for my door key 

but you are my porch light 

and you'll never know, dear 

just how much i loved you 

you'll probably think this was 

just my big excuse 

but i stand committed 

to a love that came before you 

and the fact that i adore you 

is but one of my truths 

what of the mother 

whose house is in flames 

and both of her children 

are in their beds crying 

and she loves them both 

with the whole of her heart 

but she knows she can only 

carry one at a time? 

she's choking on the smoke 

of unthinkable choices 

she is haunted by the voices 

of so many desires 

she's bent over from the business 

of begging forgiveness 

while frantically running around 

putting out fires 

but then what kind of scale 

compares the weight of two beauties 

the gravity of duties 

or the ground speed of joy? 

tell me what kind of gauge 

can quantify elation? 

what kind of equation 

could i possibly employ? 

and you'll never know, dear 

just how much i loved you 

you probably think this was 

just my big excuse 

but i stand committed 

to a love that came before you 

and the fact that i adore you 

is just one of my truths 

so i 

i'm goin' home 

to please the one i so love pleasing 

and i don't expect 

he'll have much sympathy for my grieving 

but i guess that this is the price 

that we pay for the privilege 

of living for even a day 

in a world with so many things 

worth believing 

in