Ethel Cain Nettles

We were in a race to grow up Yesterday, through today, till tomorrow But when the plant blew up A piece of shrapnel flew and slowed that part of you The doctors gave you until the end of the night But not till daylight, not till daylight Time passes slower in the flicker of a hospital light I pray the race is worth the fight Made a fool of myself down on Tennessee Street It wasn't pretty like the movies, it was ugly like what they all did to me And they did to me what I wouldn't do to anyone You know that's for sure Tell me all the time not to worry And think of all the time that I'll have with you When I won't wake up on my own, wake up on my own Held close all the time, knowing I'm half of you Lay me down where the trees bend low Put me down where the greenery stings I can hear them singing To love me is to suffer me And I believe it When I lay with you in that auld lang room Wishing I was the way you say that you are You'll go fight a war, I'll go missing I warned you, for me, it's not that hard That picture on the wall you're scared of looks just like you I want to bleed, I want to hurt the way that boys do Maybe you're right and we should stop watching the news 'Cause, baby, I've never seen brown eyes look so blue Tell me all the time not to worry (not to worry) And think of all the time that I'll have with you When I won't wake up on my own, wake up on my own Held close all the time, knowing I'm half of you Think of us inside after the wedding (after the wedding) Suffering the while to lie a time or two Where we won't wake up on our own, wake up on our own Held close all the time, knowing This was all for you Think of us inside Gardenias on the tile Where it makes no difference who held back from who