Night Talks - Mark Kozelek

Oh, we stay up

You and I on the phone, talking late

We talk about our recent Netflix and A&E favorites

We talk about how the world around us has changed since we were young

We talk about the nice things that have happened and the difficult parts

And I’ve grown to where I depend on you

Like how in the morning, I hear the train going ooh

Like how I hear the wind going

And the cars on the highway going

And when I’m in town, dinner with my girlfriend

And coming home from my tour to a big, fat, cozy bed

Oh, we’re getting older, aren’t we?

Next thing you know I’ll be calling you from a fifty-five plus community

Thinking I definitely didn’t pass up the opportunity

To tackle life with a tireless tenacity

Yesterday it was one of your kid’s birthdays

She’s twelve and I remember when she was just a baby

She looked like a sack of white flour with legs and arms

And my girlfriend at the time said, «Oh my god, I love that little one.»

We were both in our late thirties then

And we were both getting around so, so easily

And you were married then and I was with Emily

But that all changed but everyone involved moved on happily

I remember my childhood room with these fluorescent posters and a blacklight

And I’d burn candles and incense all night

But Dad would say, «Mark, you’re gonna burn the house down.»

I thought he was paranoid then

But I fully understand him now

Your room was so much different than mine

It had an extra window and much more sunshine

And your walls were painted a very light shade

Soft blue and yellow like an Easter egg

Yesterday five people were murdered at the Fort Lauderdale airport

By a mass murderer, these things are daily news reports

On New Years Eve, a mass murder in Turkey

While me and my girlfriend were sleeping in California, peacefully

I’m nervous they’re gonna send a nuclear bomb into the sky

Directed at us while we’re asleep and take us by surprise

If that happens and my life flashes before my eyes

I hope that my beautiful love is sleeping beside me

And if the sirens go off and it’s time for the world to say goodbye

Many memories will quickly flash through my mind

The ones that are the dearest to me

Like our night talks

I always think of them fondly

And if for some reason your life goes before mine

Know that our night talks meant everything

I’ll be fifty at the end of January

And our night talks are what I look forward to most throughout my day

I don’t want our night talks to ever go away