Everyone thought I was crazy for loving her so much
She thought I was lazy but I had the Midas touch
She dressed like Cleopatra
I wept like Antony
I paid her husband’s bail and drove her to his trial
Wound up chasing them to Cairo, I poled across the Nile
As I crawled through the desert
The sun burnt her from my memory
Her love was brighter than thunder
And louder than lightning
Those eyes full of wonder
Made everything frightening
When it storms in the desert, the rain brings no relief
Was it a marriage of convenience, and if so his or hers?
When things got bad she’d leave him, stay away ‘til they got worse
But she never said she loved him
At least not to me
I wonder if I played a part in setting up the scam
The Judas kiss that made him her sacrificial lamb
When they took him away she shrugged
Her love was brighter than thunder
And louder than lightning
Those eyes full of wonder
Made everything frightening
I never denied him, she said, and that was good enough for me
Our three day anniversary was the first day of the war
She was bathing when I got there, she had left the door ajar
Her words were “don’t come in”
But what she said was “go away”
She met me in the lobby, I helped her with her bags
She climbed into a waiting car, a wet parade of flags
I couldn’t hear her over the band, but there really wasn’t nothing she could say
Her love was brighter than lightning
And louder than thunder
The silk noose was tightening
And it makes me wonder
Why I stood at the door waving long after they were gone
I caught up with them in Bangkok, found him dead in their hotel
Hanging from the chandelier, how long I couldn’t tell
I cut him down and found a Tarot card pinned to his lapel
On the face was a hanging man who looked a little bit like him
On the reverse she had written, “It’s a game nobody wins”
I took the message with me and wondered if it ever rained in hell
