When you were a child
You tried to eat the sky
You swore that you could even
Poke out your shadow’s eyes

If someone let you down
You climbed the old oak tree
You climbed too high for sorrow
To catch and set you free

And when you were a girl
You swore you were a bird
You flew straight through the leaves
On wings of naïve words

When your hips grew wider
To hold your child-mind
You sang among the branches
Silly empty rhymes

When you carved initials
You swore that you were grown
Birds were children’s stories
And long ago they’d flown

When you scratched them out
You wept into your tree
You climbed until you scraped the sky
And waited to be free

When your womb grew full
You lay in speckled shade
You whispered silly empty rhymes
Though they didn’t sound the same

And when you were empty
You tried to climb again
But it seemed you had forgotten
And lost your oldest friend

When your hair grew grey
You swore you were a bird
You flew straight through the leaves
On wings of jaded words