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( rain )

song in the Afternoon

:::::

she said

YOU SEEM SO HURT
SO BROKEN
SO ABANDONED

I LOVE OLD BROKEN THINGS

LET ME LOVE YOU
LET ME HELP YOU

I smiled

Her brittle precocious audacity was quite charming
Her  longing to be real
(Her own buried pain )

And I said

WHY DONT YOU COME OVER TO MY HOUSE
SATURDAY MORNING
AND HELP ME WORK ON MY OLD CAR

ITS SURELY OLD AND BROKEN DOWN
AND NEEDS SOME LOVE

she looked a little surprised
Even hurt

But said

SURE
I ' LL BE THERE

//////

Well
She sure knew nothin about cars
But she was game

Under the hood
Under the car

Crawling around

She was really helpful
And quite humble about things

We had a great time
And finally got the thing running

••

We went inside
I found some old clothes my big sister
Had left behind

And I gave it to her and invited her to
Use the shower

While I put our clothes in the washer

••

She came out all ***** and span

And we just stood there awhile looking
At each other

she said

YOURE NOT REALLY BROKEN
AND ABANDONED
ARE YOU  ?

and stood there in her honest vulnerability

NOT ANY MORE THAN MOST

I said

MAYBE NOT ANY MORE THAN YOU

I added

/////

We stood there in an awed silence

//

She said

WELL
I GOTTA GET ON HOME

THANKS FOR SPENDING
SOME TIME WITH ME

||~~||

SAY

MAYBE YOU CAN TAKE ME
FOR A RIDE IN YOUR CAR SOMEDAY

she stared down at the ground

OH
IM SURE OF THAT

I said

IM SURE OF THAT