Shiv by Eric Benoit Lyrics

She didn’t mean me harm
In the restaurant surrounded by all of our friends
“On a scale of 1 to 10,” she asked him
“How gay are you?”

With one being Tim, a living rainbow
And 10 being Eric Benoit, ramrod straight
I froze
My breath stopped
Body hardened

Stammering, “that’s not true”
An unceremonious departure later
I was crying in my room

Goodbye to falsehoods
Goodbye to comfort
I don’t have to be invisible
Goodbye to loving easily
A short-lived respite from my invisibility
Of course now, I prefer the dark
Nothing ever really changes
Love will always elude me
I’ll learn to love myself one day
Do you believe me?

Ever the bold one
I sent an email
And it read
“There is a fire inside of me
It’s small, but it’s bright
And it lives alongside
All the women I’ve loved in my life”