Jill Hennessy Follow

my brother’s bike sits against the old garage door, i guess he’s back from somewhere i think it’s too small for him to ride anymore / he sits to watch the tv, now it’s time to play good family, i can do it, i’m real good - making something out of nothing, pushing emptiness away / it ain’t so bad don’t forget, don’t cry, don’t complain, just don’t let the grownups know or they’ll come and take us away, go next door and ask for sugar, tiny actors in a play / spinning gold out of straw, making something sweet for dinner ‘cause their parents are away

i didn’t want to cry then but sometimes i cry now for three who held tight to each other to keep from falling down

we don’t ask him where he’s been when it’s a minefield you’ve been livin’ in, with worry howlin’ through the door, poking at you in your sleep / and she says “don’t you call me here no more it’s not my turn it’s his”, guess we’re living in a stalemate with a little boy who cries for fear of all the emptiness / how’d we used to put on christmas, what’s the record that we played? watch the happy tv movie, no one’s pulling in the driveway, god, the winter days are dark, leave the light on, watch the snow falling lonely in the park

i didn’t want to cry then but sometimes i cry now for three who held tight to each other to keep from falling down

i wish i would have held you, wish i gave you more, but i’m so sorry darlin’, i guess my arms were too small, too small