She never should have rented this apartment in the Mortal City   The cold comes though every crack she puts her hand up to   The radiator's broken, so she has to use electric heat.      And tonight was the first date with the brother of the guy she worked next to   He lived a couple streets away   He listened, he had things to say   She asked him up for dinner sometime   Sometime was tonight      The radio gave updates on the ice storm while she made the dinner   They said, from all the talk, you shouldn't drive or even walk   And this just in -- We're asking everyone to turn off their power   They need it at the hospital.      She ran around pulling plugs, then she called him up   Maybe now they shouldn't meet, he said that he would brave the streets   She met him at the door with a blanket and a candle   Saying, I heard it on the radio, I had to turn my power off.      He said you're not the only one, the streets were dark tonight,   It was like another century   With dim lamps and candles lighting up the icy trees and the clouds and a covered moon.      She said what kind of people make a city   Where you can't see the sky and you can't feel the ground?      I tell you something, I have this feeling that this city's dying   He said, it's not dying it's the people who are dying   She said, yes yes I think the people are dying and nobody cares.      We had all this technology our dreams were bold and vague   And then one city got bad planners, one city got the plague.      He asked why did you move here? She said, for the job   For the job and I've been so lonely here, so lonely   There's no one I can talk to, you know I don't even know your brother.      He smiled and said, sometimes at night I walk out by the river   The city's one big town, the water turns it upside down   people found this city because they love other people   They want their secretaries, they want their power lunches.      And think about tonight, I heard the same newscast you did   I unplugged everything, I looked out the window   And I think the city heard, I watched as one by one the lights went off   So they could give their power to the hospital      They ate in silence while she thought this over,   They sat together in a dark room in the Mortal City   Shifting in their blankets so they wouldn't get spaghetti on them.      Then came the awkward moment after dinner, what to do,   The ice was still falling, the streets were still dangerous   The cabs were not running and this neighborhood was not the greatest.      They both looked at the space where a couch would've been   She felt her stomach sink, she felt like she could hardly think      She said, I never should have rented this apartment in the Mortal City   The cold comes through eve crack I put my hand up to   The radiator doesn't work, I have to use electric heat.      That settled it, they would both sleep in her bed   It was a matter of survival.      She brought out teeshirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, socks, hats   If there was ever any thought of what would happen in that bed tonight   There was no question now   They could barely move   They were wrapped up like ornaments waiting for another season.      They lay in bed, they listened to the pelting ice   He said my brother's not a bad guy, he's just quiet   I wished you liked this city   She said, maybe I do.      I think I have a special kind of hearing tonight   I hear the neighbors upstairs   I hear my heart beating   I hear one thousand hearts beating at the hospital   And one thousand hearts by their bedsides waiting   Saying that's my love in the white gown,      We are not lost in the Mortal City   We are not lost in the Mortal City