naked (phoenix)

Dressed to kill, doused in perfume
Blood-red lips and heavy-set eyes
The cab outside honking his horn
And slowly from the couch I rise

Meander through an empty hallway
My hips rehearsing for the ball
Open the door and throw a last glance
At the mirror mirror on the wall

She stares back at me, shy and naked
No more than three or four years old
Her skinny limbs trying to hide her
Pearl-white skin that’s stiff with cold

Dead-straight shoulder-length hair, with
An outgrown fringe that cannot conceal
The tear slipping from her hollow cheek
– She’s too fragile, too young, too meek

For me to tell her the one very thing
She has heard far too often already
You do not understand at all, little girl
Go see your mummy, ask your daddy

As in her eyes, there it is written
Beyond the power of the word
That only she knows what true love is
And she’s asking me to cut the cord

That keeps me tied to the illusion
Of needing to find it with a man
For all we need is us, together, and
Could I please just hold her, if I can