emily was always herself
emily was never afraid to be anyone else

emily wasn't shy
emily didn't cry
    not every day, anyway
    not as i thought she had.

no, emily was always herself.
never afraid to be anyone else.

emily was mine
emily was me

but then she got in the way
emily was changed
and emily
the emily we knew

emily wasn't the same.



 

Us Phoenixes
    of ash and flame
For us it happens every day
Least expectant we are
When it appears
Whispering in our ears

The murmurs are cruel
Or simply offhand
A phrase that offends
A word or command when

The phoenix bursts into flame
Her wings turned to ash
Her heart a searing gash
Eyes sealed shut in the heat
From the world she refuses to meet
It has left her on the stone
It has left her
   ...

It happens every day
Least expectant they are
When it appears
Whispering in their ears

The murmurs are cruel
Or simply offhand
A phrase that offends
A word or command when

The phoenix bursts into flame
Her wings turned to ash
Her heart a searing gash
Eyes sealed shut in the heat
From the world she refuses to meet
It has left her on the stone
It has left her alone

Yet
To man's surprise
The phoenix must rise
She...

'It's a girl!' The doctor cried.
I think that day, the father died
At least a little
Knowing there was no chance for a boy.
'Can you check again?' Dad asks
The doctor gets back to the task -
    The result, the same,
yet again
    He wished he didn't have to put his patients
    Through this kind of pain.
The mother wails and the father cries
The doctor can't look into the eyes
Of...

12th July 1924

'Evelyn!' Robert Harrington exclaimed.
    Mr Harrington was a large, plump man of about 40. He wore a dignified tuxedo that hugged too tightly around his waist so he looked more like a walrus dressed for a gala than a man but was well respected in this room, having been an officer in the war. As he told me over many awkward silences in his office, 1918 came and went and he had chosen to return to his...

'It's a girl!' The doctor cried.
I think that day, the father died
At least a little
Knowing there was no chance to be a boy.
'Can you check again?' Mr Williams asks
The doctor gets back to the task -
    The result, the same,
yet again
    He wished he didn't have to put his patients
    Through this kind of pain.
The mother wails and the father cries
The doctor can't look into the...