Izaak Opatz
Pilot Light
Now, you’re saddled up with another and living in another state
I was never the kind of guy you went for anyway
The tortoise shell glasses, tousled mouse-nest hair, the hand-rolled cigarettes
The scuffy air of condescending, gleeful disenfranchisement

I’m still helplessly hopeful, and it’s got nothing to do
With if it’s the right time, or if I’m the right guy for you
When we keep in touch now, you say you’re so glad we’re still friends
I say I am, too, but I for one have been pretending

And I’ll always be pretending till I die or lose my cool
Or until you relent and say you’ve been pretending, too

Your heart is as patient and cocked
As a bead of balanced dew

Parapet cheekbones, eyes like oil
Poised above the moat
You keep yourself like a secret, you’d rather be left alone
I’ve just always liked you, and I can dull it down
But it’ll never quite shut off, or ever quite burn out

I’m like the light on your VCR that stays on even though you could’ve sworn you turned it off
I’ve got a heart with a pilot light that burns all night just in case you want to turn you on

Your heart is as patient and cocked
As a bead of balanced dew
Sitting heavy at the tip of a leaf
You are never gonna let me shake it loose

I’ll always be pretending, till I die or lose my cool
Or until you relent and say you’ve been pretending, too