Holding hands

Two girls walk down the street

My rooster and me

Her body screams “I fucking dare you”

But her eyes plead “Wake up”

And it’s no wonder why she hated school

Or why she can’t sit still

Because this day all the cars drive past

And shout their dirty words

Just because our hands are clasped

And I grip it tighter

And she swears under her breath

Saying something about the idiot of people

Who can’t even understand that two girls might just hold hands

And not have any underlying message in it

And at school they didn’t understand her

That weirdo, the freak

With her long matted hair

And her shredded jeans

And how she seems to just not care

So they wanted her to go to therapy

Because they thought she was depressed

Well of course she was depressed

But what do they expect

When we don’t hold hands at night anymore

Not after  we almost got gang raped

Walking back from her boyfriend’s house in April

And she shaved her head

Because her hair was made of lead

It just kept weighting her down

And she dropped out of school the next year

Cause she couldn’t stand

How asleep they all made her feel

And now we are walking down this street

And a guy is his red SUV

Rolls his window down to ask us “who’s the man?”

But isn’t it possible

That we just hold hands

To keep each other from getting lost

Because I was lost before I met her

And if she hadn’t grabbed my hand

I think I might have wondered off a bridge

Or onto a knife or a gun

And blown my brains out

All over the school’s white white walls

So we hold tight hands

As we’re crossing the street

And I say “to hell with them all”