Caterwauling

“Fourteen today and you went dancing
Music mixed with laughter and boys can be so immature
They made you drink a bit too much
Everything’s a blur to feel and touch
Did he really like you? Well, how can you be sure enough?

Twenty-three today and all your friends are gettin’ married
You say, they’re so scared of bein’ alone
So self-righteously you march through teachers’ college
Still so much in life you gotta get to know
Seems like everybody’s so content to move so slow

And when you think, you’ve got your life so well-controlled
It slips away
And the years, like raindrops falling from your life
Are washed away, washed away

And you’re so brilliant, you’re so gifted
So sensitive, so strong
As you hide behind your barricade of words
But no one got close enough to you to have ever heard

I met you at a party
You were drunk and full of world advice and I was gettin’ nervous
And you said, you had a child who was a genius
Then you smiled as the living room transformed into your circus

Someone whispered you were 39 today, a face so young, eyes so old
You collapsed into the corner, like some body of raw nerves
You near seduced me with your verbs as I reached out for you
You said over and over

Oh, when you think, you’ve got your life so well-controlled
It slips away
And the years, like raindrops falling from your life
Are washed away, washed away

And you’re so brilliant, you’re so gifted
So tragic and so wrong
As you hide behind your barricade of words
But you know, no one got close enough to you to have ever heard

Children come home from school
Shout and laugh with all their life
Shut them out fast before you think of the past
Turn out all of your lights

Go to bed, go to sleep, don’t think, don’t feel
As the nighttime owns a prayer
But maybe somewhere deep inside
There’s some meaning, aching to be shared

Fourteen today and you were dancing.”

— Dan Hill, “14 Today”