Jeffrey Lewis
Moving
It went well
You didn't have to do it all by yourself
Some friends came over and helped
A hand truck, a friend with a van
And you're moving out again
Remembering when you first came
It's crazy these streets look the same
They looked different when they were strange
And it's always weird to erase
Every personal trace
From a place you called home for a while
And see all that you own in a pile
A place that had become a friend
To return it to how it had been
To be friends with whomever moves in

And you stick around
After all the boxes are down
The fridge is empty- just one ice tray
And you swept and mopped more today
Than the entire time that you stayed
It's a shame you now have to leave
The place is actually nice when it's clean
It wasn't hard mopping the floor
Why didn't you ever do that before?
Now the van is down on the corner
And you've done everything that you're gonna
There's some pennies and dust on that shelf
But the landlord can clean it herself
And you're not sure, but you're going to claim
The blinds were busted like that when you came
Man, so existential in that room
So existential with that broom
Cause the room looks the same
Except there's no life left
And you start thinking about death
When you die, will it be the same?
No more thoughts decorating your brain?
An empty space for the world to reclaim?
You're on the verge of thinking something deep
Then you hear the van give the beep
Then you take one last look around to make sure
Then you take one last walk out the door
And you'll never again see the angle
Of the street you saw from that window
You take the key out of your pocket
You close the front door and you lock it
Drop the key back through the slot
Sure hope there's nothing you forgot