we were young then   we balanced sidewalks   we were cool then dripping wet with our lack of common sense   your mother measured how tall those marks on the walls were      we were heavy   tree branches couldn't hold us   and teasing your curfew, we'd buy time   for the time being   we thought we knew the difference between    swallowed whole and driving reckless      and so he tasted    your skin and sandboxes   and so he spread youth that on the ground   just like a blanket   we walked the wrong ways   and talked the words in thin places      i sat on his bedspread   he played his father's james taylor records   my head full of 'this is the end of my life as i know it'   these words that swarm this man   these piano warheads    that are scared correspondence   will be keeping me from getting to you      we were young then   we were childish   carving peepholes from our pupils