It was a normal spring day,
When there were no problems in the world,
And she spoke to her friends
Of spelling tests and bumblebees
And the biggest complications were invisible
Because they were not real.
And when she asked her mommy about the toy,
Her mommy bought it for her
Because that was what mommy did.
And her daddy was always home
To read to her when she cried
Because daddy always knew
How to make her feel better.
And all the days of that spring
Were just the same,
Equally as lovable,
Because that's what the spring
Was all about,
And that was all they could be.
It was a normal summer day,
A blisteringly hot Thursday,
When the sun's rays gave her burns and blisters.
There was talk amongst the girls
About boys and exams
Because that's what high school
Was all about.
And when she called her mommy,
Her mommy told her she would call back
When she was not working.
And when mommy called back,
Her problems became dissolved in the phone
Because that's what the phone
Was all about.
And because she was "grown up" now,
Her daddy could go back to working,
And he was never there to dry her tears.
And when the tears welled in her eyes,
They made her face moist
Because that's what tears do
When left undried.
And all the days of that summer
Were just the same as the day before
Because that's what the summer
Was all about.
It was yet another normal day,
One of those twisted winter things
That seemed to have become common,
At least to her.
Her boy learned the lies of her friends
Because that's what the talk amongst the girls
Was all about,
And her boy became someone else's
Because that's what friends were for.
And her mommy wouldn't call back,
Even if she waited for hours,
And eventually mommy told her
That her problems were stupid
Because most high school problems were.
And when she tried to ask her daddy,
Her daddy wouldn't listen,
And when she asked him to read to her
Like he used to,
He just picked up a bottle and drank.
And she didn't cry anymore
Because she couldn't remember what crying was for.
And all the days of that winter
Were just the same as this
Because that's what growing up
Was really all about.
When finally the autumn came,
She questioned her friends
Because that's what faith was for.
And her ex was dead,
Killed in a car crash
Because that's what driving drunk
Did to people.
And her mommy wasn't her mommy anymore.
She was just another person living in that house,
And she slept at night
Trying to remember the spring.
And her daddy was dead, too,
Because that's what the bottle
Had always been about,
And she wanted to crawl under her covers
Because the air outside was cold.
And she couldn't remember how to cry,
And when she tried to she choked
Because it hurt her so very much.
And when her friends offered to help her,
She told them to fuck off
Because she hated them,
And that's what hatred
Was all about.
And when the end of autumn arrived,
She snuck away from that place in secret
Because secrecy was her only real friend.
And all the days of that autumn
Were becoming progressively worse,
And all she wanted to do was die.
And when her mommy walked up to her room,
She found the tears of her daughter
Dissolved in a pool of blood,
And her face was red with dissolution,
As the phone laid at her side.
And on the wall there was a note,
And it told of how she hated life
And of how her daddy
And her friends
And everything she ever loved,
Including her mommy
Were equally as dead,
In one way or another.
And her mommy cried because her daughter was gone,
Because now she was all alone,
And that's what loneliness
Was always about.
7/29/04
Review