Lulu's Eyes

(Verse 1)

James held the world in open palms, a prize for her to claim

While Lulu stood back to watch the crowd whispering his name

She loved the way the floorboards creaked the moment he walked in

Like a Sunday church dress she wore to hide the hollow place within

She traded on James’s spirit, on the beauty and kindness in his face

Just to buy herself a ticket to a more palatial place.

(Chorus)

Lulu loved him with her eyes, but never with her heart

She mastered every gesture, she perfected every part

She never heard his quiet, or the way he needed more

She only traced an outline

That left James empty to his core

She loved the picture postcard

The blinding flash of all the lights

She never understood his heart

She only loved him with her eyes,

(Verse 2)

She left the screen door swinging, as she left her sons in the cold

And turned her own deceptions into chains for James to hold

She stayed because her leaving was a debt she made him pay

Painful ropes of obligation James wore through every day

For Lulu, it was theater, a spotlight that she craved

She just wanted the narrative of being saved.

(Bridge)

James’s hunger for a warm pulse made him blind to all her lies

She played upon his love for her just to keep her glass filled high

It wasn’t "us," it wasn’t "we," just the platform he’d provide

A rented room of vanity where Lulu had a place to hide

No wonder James went searching for a world inside his head

When the one she built of brick and stone was the one that was pretend.

(Verse 3)

The theater is empty now, the stage is dark and still

The sons she left behind have long since had their fill

They don’t look back for Lulu, they’ve got nothing left to say

While she sits in assisted living through every single day

Down a sterile, quiet hallway where the air is thin and old

She’s just the leading lady in her pretend story growing cold.

(Chorus)

Lulu loved them with her eyes, but never with her heart

She mastered every gesture, she perfected every part

She never heard their quiet, or the way they needed more

She only traced out an outline

That left them empty to their core

She loved the picture postcard

The blinding flash of all the lights

She never understood their hearts

She only loved them with her eyes,

She only loved them with her eyes.