*30 Line Orphan Song

Thirty Line

 

Orphan Song

I’m not an orphan

 Though my folks are gone 

Left me with a softness

 In the center, 

Their lilt to a laugh 

 No orphan in that blood

 Still flowing through Veins 

mixing vintages Into a varietal of temperment 

Can’t or won't fake those

 Sometimes you will see them

 Without searching too hard

 A certain tilt of the head 

When lifting up a kid

 Or kneeling in the loose dirt

 Orphans don’t look Like my Mother 

When she explained

 How mistakes are not permanent

 Such a difference for me 

 Love doesn’t always last 

But the bond stays strong 

In these chromosomes 

Things handed down

 We hold like a fledgling

 I’m no orphan

 Not in this album

 Tattooed in my memory 

Cobalt indelible inside

Not an orphan, never

I'm not lonely

I'm Not Lonely

I'm not lonely sleeping all alone

you think i'm scared

but i'm a big girl

i don't cry or anything I have a great big bed to roll around in

and lots of space

and i don't dream bad dreams

like i used to have

that you were leaving me anymore Now that you're gone

i don't dream

and no matter what you think

i'm not lonely sleeping all alone

Written by Nikki Giovanni