Cage The Songbird

Sober in the morning light

Things look so much different

To how they looked last night

A pale face pressed to an unmade bed

Like flags of many nations flying high above her head

The cellophane still on the flowers

The telegram still in her hand

As whispers circulate all day

Their back-stage baby princess passed away

And you can cage the songbird

But you can't make her sing

And you can trap the free bird

But you'll have to clip her wings

`Cause she'll soar like a hawk when she flies

But she'll dive like an eagle when she dies

Promises of no more lies

Fell flat upon an empty stage

Before the audience arrived

A return in time to the cheaper seats

She never knew what lay beneath

Just a dated handbill they found between the sheets

Let down before the final curtain

A shallow heart that left her cold

She left in rouge upon the mirror

A circled kiss to the faithful who'd miss her