Paper dolls

Tucked away in an envelope 

is a letter you once wrote 

from a dozen years ago 

and a small paper doll. 

I promised I’d take you with me 

as we embarked on a journey 

And there’s so many sights you’d see 

through the eyes of a paper doll. 

I should have sent you home 

but I couldn’t seem to let go 

We were connected hand in hand 

As we floated away in the wind. 

As we floated away in the wind. 

Tattered fragments of a napkin

is all that’s left of that weekend,

a captain’s log of memories 

reduced to smudged and faded ink. 

In a box upon my dresser,

is an unfinished letter, 

never destined for completion,

for there’s nobody left to read it. 

I should have sent you home 

but I couldn’t seem to let go 

We were connected hand in hand 

As we floated away in the wind. 

As we floated away in the wind. 

We are just paper dolls

Don’t you think so?

We are just paper dolls,

we follow where the wind blows. 

Ghost Eyes

I hear there’s a treasure 

hidden far out of sight 

where no one remembers 

because the X fades in time 

In the beginning,

there were searches world round 

but now crumbled ruins 

are all that’s left of this town. 

So I may be mistaken 

but I realized when I saw your light,

they never had it right. 

Ghost eyes 

Come and let ask you why 

I just want to listen and try

to bring you back to life. 

It’s just human nature 

to seek, to fill a void. 

A trail of destruction 

tells the path that we’ve forged. 

And we’re all just searching 

for an answer to validate our minds. 

And we’ve left you behind. 

Ghost eyes 

Come and let ask you why 

I just want to listen and try

to bring you back to life,

Ghost eyes. 

—————

I was in the middle of putting together a bookshelf when I started listening to my three year old play. She has an amazing vocabulary and comes up with some extraordinary scenarios in her pretend play. I pulled up my notes app and wrote this song as she played. The italicized words are actual words she spoke while playing. I asked her, “what are ghost eyes?” She showed me one of her “My Little Ponies” that had been left out in the sun. The paint was faded and washed out. “She has ghost eyes because she’s sad. She got left behind.” 

Recovery Side

Didn’t you feel me pull away?

Every time your fingertips brushed my skin, I turned my face. 

Wasn’t the empty bed beside you clear enough? 

Why didn’t you see me falling, falling out of love?

And now you’re down on your knees

and now you’re finally saying

everything I’ve wanted to hear 

for the last six years. 

But it’s too late, it’s time to move along. 

I’m “another last chance” too far away from half way gone. 

& I can’t wait for it to finally dawn in your eyes, 

“she’s gone for good this time.” 

When you stroll down memory lane,

try not to trip on every stone you threw at me along the way. 

And if you see me turn back around, 

it’s only so I can see how far I’ve made it out this burning house. 

I know when you tell our story,

I’ll be the villain, baby 

I don’t really look the part of helpless maiden, anyway. 

It’s too late, it’s time to move along. 

I’m “another last chance” too far away from half way gone. 

& I can’t wait for it to finally dawn in your eyes, 

that I’m gone for good this time.

Every time you yelled, every name you called,

every time you made every teardrop fall, 

another step, another step, another step 

Away from you. 

And now look at where I’m standing, on the recovery side from you.