the fire you built
to keep us warm
is burning me to death.

i don't want you to hold me
and if they get me, don't bother
bite your tongue, don't make a sound
i'm running from the arms of another

i swear i would love you, if only i knew how to.

if someone is ***** and everyone ignores it,
did it really happen?

if she said no and he didn't listen,
did she make a sound?

we live in a world where women teach their daughters
to scream before teaching them to say please.

where the word "no" is treated like a suggestion,
and "stop" is treated like a foreign phrase...

where a woman's innocence is crushed like a flower in hands that were never given permission to hold it.

and yet you wonder why girls go to the bathroom in pairs,
and call each other to make sure they got home safely?

and that was the moment i knew,
if this whole earth was dancing,
i would still be watching you.

and after all i still believe
that death is the wrong answer
in this world of multiple choice.

let it be because she reminded you of me.
that her blonde hair was cut in a chopped short mess,
just like mine.
and her laugh was a silent, gasping for air, kind of laugh.

that her eyes were green but you imagined they were blue,
that her lips almost tasted like my coconut chapstick,
that if you squinted your eyes hard enough,
she had my freckles.

let it be because she was wearing my favorite perfume,
because she was wearing my favorite color,
or because she was wearing black nail polish
that she had a bad habit of scratching off.

let it be because it was just a kiss,
because it didn't mean anything.
let it be because you were missing me,
and she was the closest thing.
let it be a stupid, heat of the moment, mistake.

let it be because you were drowning in loneliness,
and she was a boat.
or let it be because you couldn't feel me anymore,
and she was just at arms reach.
let it be something you will never do again...

just don't let it be because you don't love me anymore.