‘Check Out The Fake'

It's difficult to perceive a heart on a sleeve
If you've concealed your own down the ages
And it's hard to stomach an open book when you read
Your own life story in its pages

Many of them pity me, for sure
But not one of them likes me
Quick, grim acknowledgement behind closed doors
Is the flip of public invisibility

“Tired of London = tired of life”?
Tired of inexplicable smugness and deluded pride
“Tired of London = tired of life”?
Tired of transitory self-regard at the speed of light
London so modern, London so bright
So much going on – in other people's lives
London so diverse, London so nice
Where only the thick-skinned can survive
Oh, London so perfect, London so right…

In the dead eyes of this endlessly reinvented soul
There's no trace of the original self
And you may never meet another individual this cold
But there's no want here for love or respect

“To see ourselves as others see us” –
Should I prepare for a heart attack?
So many hate me for no perceivable reason -
Maybe it's time I gave them just that

“Tired of London = tired of life”?
Tired of inexplicable smugness and deluded pride
“Tired of London = tired of life”?
Tired of transitory self-regard at the speed of light
London so modern, London so bright
So much going on – in other people's lives
London so diverse, London so nice
Where only the thick-skinned can survive
Oh, London so perfect, London so right…

Loneliness is not solitude;
Solitude is not loneliness
One is a valuable commodity
The other an ever-present threat
Well, I wrecked my health to find someone else;
I self-destructed just to fit in
But despite plumbing uncharted depths
No one even notices that I'm dying

“Tired of London = tired of life”?
Tired of inexplicable smugness and deluded pride
“Tired of London = tired of life”?
Tired of transitory self-regard at the speed of light
London so modern, London so bright
So much going on – in other people's lives
London so diverse, London so nice
Where only the thick-skinned can survive
Oh, London so perfect, London so right…

 

© M.A.Tovey 2007