Exiles Among You

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
Wish on everything
Pray that she remains
Proud and strange
And so hopelessly hopeful

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