Exiles Among You

Her body is a difficult sister and she loves her,

And hides her somewhere in herself safe from harm.

She's barely coasting into a paycheck stuck on empty.

Her blue eyes frozen green in the low-lit ATM.

I need a way to measure the distance.

I need a way to say why,

Out of breath or out of key

Her voice resonated in me

Wish on everything

Pray that she remains

Proud and strange and so hopelessly hopeful

Her body is a difficult sister and she loves her

And hides her somewhere in herself safe from harm

Her night shift is over she's writing you a postcard

To say that she's okay and it's raining there again

My fury's rising faster than bus-fares

Could someone clarify why there's no structured narrative?

No neat story-line to explain?

Wish on everything

Pray that she remains

Proud and strange and so hopelessly hopeful.

Wishes and prayers are the way that we leave the lonely alone

And push the wounded away

She shoplifts some Christmas gifts,

And a bracelet for herself

And considers phoning home

Has some quarters in her hand

But she sits down on the sidewalk

And bites her bottom lip

And spends the afternoon

Willing traffic-lights to change