What I Want for Lunch

I don't know what I want for lunch
I just can't say for sure
something I never had before
something I never had

I won't submit to the hysteria
of the employee cafeteria
I'd rather walk the street
in the sickening August heat
crossing at the cross walk
avoiding all the loose talk
I'll chew my role on a public bench
while I still have teeth to clench

I don't know what I want for lunch
I just can't say for sure
something I never had before
something I never had

I've watched you closely from afar
from way across the salad bar
in your floral summer dress
so sweet and self-possessed
you're probably in panic
or uninspired or heartsick
I know you're not at all my business
anymore than anyone else is


I don't know what I want for lunch
I just can't say for sure
something I never had before
something I never had

I'm hungrier than ever
for a lunch that just goes on forever
they say in time everything will come
don't believe 'em

What a pleasure and it's all mine
a plastic chair in the sunshine
I forget what I do for a living
eating is better than thinking
I'm not kidding I'm nothing but a mouth
I've got nothing here to talk about
just fill me up with something sweet
so I don't have to taste defeat

I don't know what I want for lunch
I just can't say for sure
something I never had before
something I never had
© Mark Donato