Wary

Some men can change the temperature of a room by sitting down in it.

Never shouted. Never had to. There is a way of going quiet

that moves a whole house faster,

and you can be raised on it and swear you'll never learn it

and learn it anyway, and do it better than whoever showed you,

because you do it in a reasonable voice.

Wary. (wary)

Wary of me.

Nineteen would clock me in a second —

polite, at a distance, checking the room before he spoke.

You can be right in the room and still be the reason

that nobody brings you anything unfinished.

Being right was never a defence. It's the usual method.

The tone is what lands, and the tone leaves no record —

nobody can play it back to you,

and everyone who could describe it has too much to lose.

Wary of me. (wary of me)

And the worst of it's the tone —

the tone doesn't leave a record, nobody can play it back.

Everyone who could tell me

has too much to lose by telling me.

Nobody who is frightened of you will ever tell you.

That's the design of it. That's why it lasts.

You can explain the pressure you're under to anyone who'll listen

and not one word of it reaches the person reading your face,

because they are not hearing reasons.

They're checking the room, the way you used to check it.

Wary of me. (wary of me)

So I asked her, badly, on a walk,

and I defended nothing, and it was forty horrible minutes.

She's bringing me things half-finished again.

That's the only measure I've got.