Perfect Gentleman from Perfect Gentleman by Randy Kaplan

"Perfect Gentleman" by Randy Kaplan

I feel six feet tall. My feet touch the wall.
Your feet are so small. I'm trying to make you smile.
Everything is white. Everything is clean.
If I can't sleep tonight I'll blame it on caffeine.

And it feels like dawn but it's not.
It's only two o'clock in the morning.

Those owls are pigeons bred outside on the ledge.
"Those birds are mice," you said. "They can't get on the bed."
If I was allowed I'd join you on a cloud
higher than the Dow. If I was allowed.

And it feels like dawn. Are you sure
that it's not even four in the morning?

I can feel your breath. You should get some rest.
But you won't unless you control your guest.
Make me shut my eyes. Make me shut my mouth.
I like your bed this size. I like your bed this crowded.

And it feels like dawn and it is, the clock insists.
It's a quarter to six in the morning.

Just three feet away from your window pane
there's a wall that's gray. It's hiding you from day,
it's hiding you from night, it's casting a soft light.
And other lives are lived behind the bricks in it.

And I guess the dawn's come and gone.
How time flies. It's seven-forty-five in the morning.

Everything is white. I held myself at bay.
I stayed with you all night. I forgot to pray.

And it feels like dawn
even though our night has ended.
It's twenty-five to ten.
When can we do this again?
I've been a perfect gentleman and it's morning.

• Blues
• blues
• country-blues
• ragtime
• story song
• Detroit