Could I Leave You

Leave you? Leave you?
How could I leave you?
How could I go it alone?
Could I wave the years away
With a quick goodbye?
How do you wipe tears away
When your eyes are dry?
Sweetheart, lover, could I recover?
Give up the joys I have known?
Not to fetch your pills again every day at five
Not to give those dinners for ten elderly men from the UN
How could I survive?
Could I leave you?
And your shelves of the worlds best books
And the evenings of martyred looks, cryptic sighs
Sullen glares from those injured eyes?
Leave the quips with a sting, jokes with a sneer
Passionless lovemaking once a year?
Leave the lies ill-concealed and the wounds never healed
And the games not worth winning
And wait, Im just beginning
What, leave you, leave you?
How could I leave you?
What would I do on my own?
Putting thoughts of you aside
In the south of France
Would I think of suicide?
Darling, shall we dance?
Could I live through the pain
On a terrace in Spain?
Would it pass?
It would pass
Could I bury my rage with a boy half your age
In the grass?
Bet your ass
But Ive done that already or didnt you know, love?
Tell me, how could I leave when I left long ago, love?
Could I leave you?
No, the point is, could you leave me?
Well, I guess you could leave me the house
Leave me the flat
Leave me the Braques and Chagalls and all that
You could leave me the stocks for sentiments sake
And ninety percent of the money you make
And the rugs andthe cooks
Darling, you keep the drugs
Angel, you keep the books
Honey, Ill take the grand
Sugar, you keep the spinet
And all of our friends and
Just wait a goddamn minute
Oh, leave you? Leave you?
How could I leave you?
Sweetheart, I have to confess
Could I leave you?
Yes!
Will I leave you?
Will I leave you?
Guess!