Music: Grace McDunnough
Lyrics: Salome Strangelove
She was lying on her back with her face up to the sky
Strawberry hippie hair and hollyhocks for eyes
At odds with all her angles, clumsy elbows, Band-Aid knees
Ladybug thick freckles, and Delphi mysteries
She said the sorts of things we tried to hide
She said them right out loud, no disguise
I am Desdemona
Titania
I am Ophelia, drowning
I am Macbeth
Caliban
I am Mercutio, clowning
I’m tobacco road
Whisky a Go Go
I am Tin Pan Alley
But just for you
And just today
I am
Lily of the Valley
She broke my heart in seventh grade and then again in eighth
So sweet and never sorry, too impossible to hate
Blooming bows and arches, skin-tight jeans and clinging sweaters
I was not the only one who’d give the whole earth just to get her
She sang the sort of songs we’d never heard
She sang them soft and steady and we clung to every word
I am Cleopatra
Tokyo Rose
I am Mata Hari, dancing
I am Casanova
I am Byron
I am Marquis de Sade, entrancing
I’m down the rabbit hole
And across the line
I am up blind alleys
But just for you
And just today
I am
Lily of the Valley
The signs on every road I’ve never traveled
The bottom lip of every mouth I’ve never kissed
The sum of all I’ve ever wanted
And all I’ve ever missed
She is memory
She calls to me
She is moonlight dreaming
She’s poetry
Harmony
She’s id and ego scheming
She was Tobacco Road
Whisky a Go Go
She was Tin Pan Alley
And just for me
For just one day
She was
Lily of the Valley