You saw your chance and you nabbed it Discovered my empty spot and you grabbed it At first I thought it was love flowing through my bloodstream But now I know the truth and my cells scream Before I met you, I never knew that love could be shot dead Where there used to be trust is paranoia instead You ate away at my mental health Left your stain on me til I'm someone else [Chorus:] Didn't take long for you to slither around my soul Eroding me cell by cell your ultimate goal Yes, you were indeed a part of me Took my heart like HIV Will there ever be a cure for all the damage you've done? You were never anything to me But an opportunistic - infection You devious devil with your diabolical game Now how can I love anyone again the same I want to blame the world for not providing me the education About the slick deceitful monsters of your persuasion To think I could think you were thinking of me And after you, finding happiness with another could never be For if I were kissed by someone else instead They'd be kissing all the mistrust you tattooed in my head [Chorus repeats] I want so badly to forget forever about you Knowing that can't happen, oh - the things I want to do Like protest the President for his convenient pretendings And picket all of Hollywood for always showing happy endings When I know that loving someone can leave you wrecked I wonder how many other victims you intend to infect Not that I care to consider how many others you'll leave unclean But I'll bet I could make a quilt like none no one's ever seen [Chorus repeats] No, not one single thing to me but an opportunistic infection Just because you decided to ACT UP, why must I be a victim?

Commentary This was Part Three of the "I Was a TwentySomething Victim of FrankenStein's Go-Go Boy Chase" series (see also "Sorry", "Emotional Rape", and "Hunting Trophey") In 1993 there was a growing sense of out gay songwriters (though the movement was still pretty much in its infancy with many artists hiding behind double entendres with not being fully "out") and i was surprised that no one had yet come up with the idea of using AIDS as a metaphor for a bad relationship...ten years later - i still haven't heard anyone try anything like this (i wouldn't be surprised if someone has but i hadn't heard it myself yet.) The phrase "opportunistic infection" was really coming into prominence in news articles about AIDS/HIV and i thought the phrase was an interesting one... "opportunistic" and "infection" both seeming like pretty spot-on words to describe the person who inspired these songs. Comparing someone to a vampire is a pretty common metaphor in such works and i really relished the idea of using the same ideas but tieing it in with something more modern. The comparisons of emotional abuse with physical abuse then led me to a more extreme version of that metaphor that followed with "Emotional Rape". As noted in the commentary for that piece though, I later felt that "Rape"'s place in the emotional arc of the set was wrong as a conclusion and instead later put it before this piece...which also led to a more satisfying juxtaposition of the two songs together - HIV/AIDS as the result of a rape. Thematically a much more logical progression. Also the transition between this piece and "Hunting Trophey" works better as well with HT following this song since one of the key mantras of the AIDS activist community is that "Silence = Death". Therefore to follow this song with a very cathartic empowering anthem that at parts borders on primal scream therapy with the roaring lion vowing not to be silent makes a much more satisfying story order.

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