Johnny and Mary

[Raz]

His dreams all have razor-sharp edges and he doesn't know how to dull them. He doesn't know how to survive, he only knows how to live.

He throws himself from one challenge to the next, and a grimace looks like a smile, but she knows better. She knows him better.

She'd ask him to slow down, but it'd be like asking a shark to stop swimming. He moves faster than sound to leave his tears behind him and if those tears ever caught up he'd drown in an ocean of salt and regret and hurt. He knows. She knows.

So she stands by and watches while he throws himself off another ledge, and she knows as well as he does that one day it's going to be too high. Too far. Too much.

One day the crowd won't be there to catch him.

One day she will.

She only hopes he lasts that long.

 

[Raas]

Some cool writing there, son. I didn't quite get the ending.. is it saying that one day when it gets too much and no-one else is there to save the dude, Mary will be there to save him? May I ask if John and Mary are anyone you actually know?

 

[neverwas]

...He moves faster than sound to leave his tears behind him and if those tears ever caught up he'd drown in an ocean of salt and regret and hurt...

very well written...while i had to read the ending twice it is a good peice. different from the others of yours i have written. i specially liked these lines. i to often think bout all the tears i shed and wonder if i slowed downin life would i drown in them?

but you know what raz darling? i have my friends to hold my head above water level. so i know that even when i feel like giving up and letting everything over take me...i will always have someone there to keep me floating.

nice work. :D

 

[Raz]

Johnny & Mary aren't kids I know....it's actually a song by Robert Palmer. I never really took much notice of the lyrics until Placebo did a cover version, but basically Johnny's a dude who is all about impulse and self-destruction, and Mary waits patiently for him to come back to Earth.

Here's the lyrics to the actual song:

Johnny's always running around
Trying to find certainty
He needs all the world to confirm
That he ain't lonely
Mary counts the walls
Knows he tires easily

Johnny thinks the world would be right
If it could buy truth from him
Mary says he changes his mind more than a woman
But she made her bed
Even when the chance was slim

Johnny says he's willing to learn
When he decides he's a fool
Johnny says he'll live anywhere
When he earns time to
Mary combs her hair
Says she should be used to it
Mary always hedges her bets
She never knows what to think
She says that he still acts
Like he is being discovered
Scared that he'll be caught
Without a second thought
Running around

Johnny feels he's wasting his breath
Trying to talk sense to her
Mary says he's lacking a real
Sense of proportion
So she combs her hair
Knows he tires easily

Johnny's always running around
Trying to find certainty
He needs all the world to confirm
That he ain't lonely
Mary counts the walls
Says she should be used to it

Johnny's always running around
Running around


Ever since I heard Placebo sing this it's struck me as a bit of a modern parable. There are lots of relationships where one person gives up their whole identity to humor the other's reaching for greatness....

--Raz--