She's Gone

© 1993 Purple Chair Music (ASCAP)
words and music by Jen Chapin

Today 
behind her melting eyes
far beyond what you can see
behind glass and wooden dignity
something swiftly broke the surface
it had to happen before long
and she's gone

Today 
behind her same routine
her work it brings her to collide
with the city's boiling bitter tide
she tries so hard to stem it
then one more baby hears death's song
and she's gone

She'll take herself down to Tennessee
and sit beneath an ancient tree
and write stories ‘bout what life could be
hearing crickets ‘stead of shotguns
those of us with our heads in sand
can try but never understand
how when the refuge that her heart demands 
called she had to go

And she's gone

Today 
from her brown stubborn lips
that often soothed a broken child
whose youth the city had defiled
there came a solemn whispered vow
I'll see no more boys buried now
and she's gone