The Poisoned Rose - Nick Lowe

The poisoned rose

That you gave to me

Has left me half alive

And half in ecstasy

But if just half your love

Is all I can win

Give me just a fraction

And no more medicine

The poisoned rose

On a Valentines card

That you take straight to your heart

That you call my junkyard

But if all I can do

Is save pieces of you

The piece of your mind

The piece of your heart

Didn’t tear me apart

Like the poisoned rose

That I received from you

Now I don’t know how we came to grow

Into this very sad affair

But every time we try to do the decent thing

Somebody spikes the drinks

And a single becomes a pair

The poisoned rose

You wear at your best

That I keep pressed between the white sheets

Where you lie half undressed

I threw away my shirt and shoes

You looked and I dived in

It’s just you and me now, darling

And do you know why?

'Cause I threw away the gin

I talked to the garbage men

And they took away your alibis

And all your worn-out clothes

I even threw myself down on the ground

But I couldn’t bring myself

To throw away the rose

This poisoned rose

This poisoned rose