(This is a never-before-seen poem of mine I wrote when I started writing poetry that I never shared before because this is very personal to me, but my close friend Ms. Doyle read it and told me this would make a perfect heartfelt song so I revised it and decided to share both the original and song version with you from a tragedy in my early childhood! )

*****Hanky-Alert*****

Musical Chairs
By: Noah Eaton
2/5/00
(Revised 5/2/03)



Alone
Sitting on the porch swing in my backyard
I hear the back gate cry
Like a wind raping its will
Like the little girl I used to know
Who sparkled in her yellow Winnie the Pooh T-shirt
With blue eyes that made you believe in cherubs
Floated like a wedding gown on a clothesline
Like a simulacrum of a Strevens painting
Now I nod slowly
Thinking if the angels grieve
When my soul sister cries
But the sky is gray...

And I want to be innocent again
Won't someone turn the music on once more
I know I won't see her again
But I just want to pretend
My soul sister is still here
That she's still skipping around these chairs
Before I run to my room and cry...



Her face reminds me of a Pierre-Auguste Renoir portrait
Envisioning the tears in her eyes
Lost in some Luncheon of a Boating Party
Looking at her youthful face sadly like Morisot's "The Cradle"
Your beach ball is still lying in my sandbox
And your jacks and Raggedy-Ann dolly
Before my playground disappeared from me...

And I want to be innocent again
Won't someone turn the music on once more
I know I won't see her again
But I just want to pretend
My soul sister is still here
That she's still skipping around these chairs
Before I run to my room and cry...



I feel like a stranger on our old swingset
And I have twenty questions I can't express
Wondering if the angels grieve
And if the pain is more than it seems
And no one is listening to me...

The mountains don't even understand how I am feeling
The nights feel too long and I just can't sleep them through
God knows He wants me to move on
But there's no practical influence to look upon
As I'm still playing this game of musical chairs
Like a tree with a tornado stripping its branches bare
It rather feels like duck, duck, goose
They took you way too soon
This is a game I want to lose...

And I want to be innocent again
Won't someone turn the music on once more
I know I won't see her again
But I just want to pretend
My soul sister is still here
That she's still skipping around these chairs
Before I run to my room and cry...

And I want to be innocent again
I'm still standing here alone
My heart and soul are bleeding
My knees feel weak and asleep
The music is dead
And no one is listening to me
Standing here between this circle of party hats and musical chairs...



(Original Poem Version)

Sitting on the porch swing in my backyard
I hear the back gate cry
Like a wind raping its will
Like the little girl I used to know
Who sparkled in her yellow Winnie the Pooh T-shirt
With blue eyes that made you believe in cherubs
Floated like a wedding gown on a clothesline
Like a simulacrum of a Strevens painting
And when my cousin cries
I wonder if the angels grieve
Her face
Like that of a Pierre-Auguste Renoir portrait
Seeing her sad face
Like the boy in Morisot's "The Cradle"
Seeing the horsehoes hammered to your second wind
Your broken eyes bleeding
Like the Raggedy-Ann dolly you left in my sandbox
With your jacks and beach ball
Before it was all torn down...
...And the Rocky mountains don't even read me
The sentinel is keeping the pocket watch hidden in his pocket
Every hour feels like a second
The nights feel too long and the days bleed with open wounds
Like butchered doves
And heavens being raped
And as I make cartwheels and somersaults
Upon this dark green grass
I see everything in black and white
The heavens dissolving
But I get no release
Jesus wants me to carry on
But this game of musical chairs is breaking my heart
Taking you too soon
This all feels like duck, duck, goose
And I just want to be the one to lose...
...I want to be innocent again
So turn on the music
I know I won't see you again
I only want to pretend to see you run around these chairs
Before I run to my room and cry
As my broken and bleeding heart
Can't respire properly...
...standing here in this circle of party hats and musical chairs...

[This message has been edited by Mistletoe Angel (05-02-2003 08:19 PM).]

dear friend....so touching, with so much emotion.....only you hon....can do that.....

Lauren~

Through the darkness
I can see your light
And you will always shine
And I can feel your heart in mine

I will remember you

_,,,^.^,,,_
Florence