Swollen -

Rings

Swollen fingers

And tight red marks linger and throb

Blood hobbles around in my veins

I find it a shame

That this scene’s just a game

That the Jacks and the Jills

Just try to make names for themselves

Something lusty

Dripping with musk

Something soon to be dusty

And spotted with rust

Well, the present’s for selling

And the past is for dwelling

And the future’s like fire

First the smoke starts a-swelling

I got swollen fingers that play on some strings

Bound up with rings that all signify things

And the greatest of recompense

In all of this diffidence

Drains from my hands as it swells

In my brain

Please tell the new mothers

Don’t stifle your children

Don’t smother their dreams

Make them trifles, like I would

I step on their feelings sometimes

So that I can feel good

About what I gave up for nothing

And it takes love to do that

It takes love away from you

It takes love, trusts it to your hand

And lets you take it for granted

I got swollen fingers that play on some strings

Bound up with rings that all signify things

And the greatest of recompense

In all of this diffidence

Drains from my hands as it swells

In my brain