On the tallest wall Dividing the town center and the affluent suburbs She spent the night spraying the words All truth dies where the crime rate falls And painted beside it Her masterpiece Better than she'd ever practiced But by the time we went to see it in the morning It was painted over Beige again Her point was proven but her art was lost Said I think we can live quietly But at what cost Time kept us distant for a while I heard she turned to botany and the bottle Her old marionette now generating its own microclimate With high intensity discharge bulbs nurturing a growing number of plants each day Seldom sober she wobbles from pot to pot with a watering can Wetting already damp soil Then sits In the middle of it all Sipping wine from a whisky tumbler Her compulsions consumed her entirely There perhaps The cost of living quietly On the tallest wall Diving the town center and the affluent suburbs She spent the night spraying the words All truth dies where the crime rate falls And beside it painted Her masterpiece Better than she'd ever practiced But by the time we went to see it in the morning it was painted over Beige again Her point was proven but her art was lost Said I think we could live quietly But at what cost