ANNE SEXTON
I don't think that you were ever a girl.
Old until you were grown
and then tired of the world.
If you stopped to rest,
your load would always shift,
Cuz it is when you rest that we see
how much we lift.
And if we wonder where
your toughness goes,
We see your words
go on and on.
Because the worst things
occur on the way to hope,
And screaming is stronger
breath underneath a song.
Your mistakes are needed
like a shark is needed more.
To make us travel fast
and finally reach the shore.
Your only answer
was to leap into the black.
And those of us carrying cuts
as deep we try to battle it back.
They said God was in the page,
but ghosts were in the wings.
Never a slight trouble,
always some big damn thing.
But you can't stand being sorry
and being woman at once.
Cuz in these delicate days
it ain't original enough.
And if we wonder
where your toughness goes,
We see your words
go on and on.
Because the worst things
occur on the way to hope,
And screaming is stronger
breath underneath a song.
And in the end of you
we say it wasn't a surprise,
Your fifth and final
try for quiet demise.
You laugh at picket fences
and then make a tree
And now you're tired cuz you tried,
and now you need to sleep.
Words and music by Jenn Lindsay
