She is naked
And her chest is making circles
On the ceiling
When the doctor comes in
To test all she is
She tells him flat-out
She is a ghost

She says, "yes, we live among you.
We are the ones who
Lie in the land of the unknown
And yes you can touch me
But not too soon."

She was there
The day the girls went
To the clinic
And one by one
The fell through the door
To get their rites of passage
Little pills of responsibility
No less, no more
A disarray of twenty eight sleepless nights
For a few hungry hours.

And the ghosts live among us now
They live like paper lanterns
Only able to spread so much light
Until they catch fire
But she won't tell him the story
Because it's one he already knows
He knows it like a bad nightmare
He knows it too well

And now he looks serious
There is no more smile, no more chat
He's got his instruments to examine her
And he's going to do just that
And he's asking for details
"What's his name, has he been tested?"
but she can't remember
and this leaves him restless
her lips are quivering and chapped
and she's been biting her nails
she's got twenty eight pills of murder
and she's lowering her sails

she said, "Yes we live among you
we were just trying to live out human nature
but I came today to ask
is there any cure?"

And he can hear her heart beating
Like a metronome of everything
That he is feeling
At least the human voice
Comes not from the body
But from the soul
Because hers has been weathered
And windswept and worn
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