A Minor PhD

Verse 1

I think I've fallen for a man who's inconveniently deceased

With aristocratic cheekbones and a rather questionable feast

He said my dear eternity I said how terribly precise

A lifetime without dying must be lonely at that price

I'd like to kiss his darkness but I'd question its degree

For every ancient monster has a minor PhD

In making lonely women think the coffin is a throne

And I unfortunately find his loneliness like my own

Spoken

(a small laugh)

Forgive me. That was almost sincere.

Verse 2

He keeps his hands like arguments he's won

Folded neat as napkins near a loaded gun

I study how he holds his wine and not the wine itself

A man who's had four centuries to practice being still

And I have built a theory about restraint

How the ones who never flinch are simply those who've learned to faint

On schedule. Elegantly. On command.

I would applaud him. If I didn't understand.

Pre-Chorus

But then he turns his head

And the theory leaves the room

But then he turns his head

And I am just a woman in a room

Chorus

So tell me do you love me or the fear

Do you want the woman or the witness standing here

I will not hand my mind across the table

Just because your jawline is a fable

Tell me do you love me or the fear

Post-Chorus

(Do you love me) or the fear

(Do you love me) or the fear

Verse 3

He said immortals never lie

I said immortals simply have more time to try

He did not laugh. He almost did.

A century of practice nearly cracked the lid.

I asked if he had ever loved someone

Who wasn't frightened of the losing

He was quiet for a while

And the bass clarinet got warmer

And the cello got slower

And I forgot my own question entirely

Pre-Chorus

Because he turns his head

And the theory leaves the room

Yes he turns his head

And I am just a woman in a room

Chorus

So tell me do you love me or the fear

Do you want the woman or the witness standing here

I will not hand my mind across the table

Just because your jawline is a fable

Tell me do you love me or the fear

Post-Chorus

(Do you love me) or the fear

(Do you love me) or the fear

Bridge

I could interview him

I could dissect him

I could write a very tidy monograph

On the erotic architecture of a man who cannot die

Or I could simply ask him

If he's ever been afraid

Of someone who was not afraid of him

Breakdown

(one piano note)

I don't think he has.

I think that's the frightening part.

Not the teeth.

The not knowing.

Chorus

So tell me do you love me or the fear

Do you want the woman or the witness standing here

I will not hand my mind across the table

Just because your jawline is a fable

Tell me do you love me or the fear

Post-Chorus

(Do you love me) or the fear

(Do you love me) or the fear

I'm still deciding