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Portrait of a Girl and Her Parents

from Where Blue Meets Blue by Andrew Calhoun

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about

The girl is 9 years old in the first two verses, then ages 50 years for the last one. I wrote this from the point of view of my mother. When I asked her what she remembered of her childhood, she said, "I was scared going to school, and I was scared going home."

lyrics

They are here every day,
And they walk in my dreams.
Dull eyes and sharp tongues
In a house full of screams.
And they're here at the door,
Maybe watching for clues;
Where I'm never caught lying
I am ever accused.
But there is always the world,
Where the sun meets the grain,
And the whole rolling ocean
In the salt of my pain.

There is nothing important,
And nothing unknown.
He's so busy,
She's so high-tone.
And I, their bright jewel,
So rare and so pale;
Like a fine china jar,
Where the cookies go stale.
There is always the world,
I keep it hid up my sleeve,
And I take it out dancing,
When the company leaves.

There is little joy taken,
When your enemy's dead;
And the wounds you were given,
Are all in your head.
Go tell the explainers,
And tell 'em in time;
They might have their answers,
But they'll never have mine.
There is always the world—
I was never to blame,
Where you can't be a loser
If life's not a game.

credits

from Where Blue Meets Blue, released April 18, 1999
with David Chickering, cello

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Andrew Calhoun Chicago, Illinois

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