Milked

As he milked the applause
Basking in the radiant glow
Of a limelight that burned out some time ago
To the dropping of jaws
His familiar slipped his side
Made her way to the wings
And stepped down from the ride

He didn't know which way to turn
For she'd been with him from the start -
And in her absence his careful demeanour
And his well-structured schemes fell apart

There's no comfort or safe haven to be found in the stormcloud night
No friend for him now as he keeps holding tight to what might have been

On another day he'd fix up his brave face so no-one knows
The depth of the chill that's set into his bones, but it's only here
That he knows for sure
Thinking not to question why
All the milk of human kindness has run dry

Nobody told him when the floodtide was coming then
It was suddenly over his head all too fast
And he was swimming for his life through the jetsam of his past
And all the driftwood of memory held in transitory, temporary measure
None of that can buoy him up now in the bursting of his lungs
In the blabbing of the tongue once so slick, once so proud

Now he's counted out the time, he's fed out all the lines
That once charmed the birds from the trees...
You want jewels? He's got these
Empty words and empty deeds
Not much left of the man to see...