Serving time

 In a restaurant

I want lip service, I said

And she kissed me

The waitress I mean

It was like she had missed me

"No I mean pay me attention at least"

It is like this fifty-fifty tension

Has ceased

After that she brought steak and peas

I said you have made a mistake and

"what on earth are these?"

"When I asked for peace", I expected your speech

For you look like Miss World to me

She said fella, you've got one hell of a

Lot of nerve

To speak to me in that way

Where is your reserve?

I said I made it already doll

Over the telephone last night

I booked a table for ourselves

Now come and sit with me in candlelight

I don't know, she said, the boss is kind of testy

I said I know he has an extra ball

But that just makes him pesty

No I mean he is the king around here

You gotta perform like some kind of a jester

If you wanna sit in his hall

So I gave her a tip

And she went on her way

Swinging her tush in that playful way

But it was only the iceberg as they say

And the cold ran into her finger bone

I was sitting alone, now alone, quite alone

I thought of my wife whom I'd left at home

My other half, the better part of me

So I invited her out, out of memory

As her ghost walked in, it passed through the wall

And they all turned their heads who were

sittting in the hall

And they said the dead have answered your call

But aren't you afraid of what's out there?

I said oh no not me, it was funny in this

I wanted to be free, but couldn't quite shift

The shadow following me

I couldn't quite lift the chip from my shoulder

The waitress came up and said do you want fish with that?

I said that would be my wish and then she brought a cat

I said I thought I asked you for a dog,

She said but this one had whiskers and it looks like a frog

Well in that case I'll try it I said with a smile

But then it jumped off my plate, down the road a country mile

I guess I'll go hungry, I told her then

She said don't give up, she still had her pen

She said tell me your order and I'll write

It down in my book

When I said sausage and mash

She gave me a quick look

That said don't you know this is a restaurant

I said I know but that's what I want

So when she went away then, I slipped out the door

And I never have been back to that place anymore