Exiles Among You - The Weakerthans

Her body is a difficult sister and she loves her

And hides her somewhere in herself, safe from harm

She’s barely coasting into a paycheck, stuck on empty

Her blue eyes frozen green in the low-lit ATM

I need a way to measure the distance

I need a way to say why

Out of breath or out of key

Her voice resonated in me

Wish on everything

Pray that she remains

Proud and strange and so hopelessly hopeful

Her body is a difficult sister and she loves her

And hides her somewhere in herself, safe from harm

Her night shift is over, she’s writing you a postcard

To say that she’s okay and it’s raining there again

My fury’s rising faster than bus fares

Could someone clarify why

There’s no structured narrative?

No neat storyline to explain

Wish on everything

Pray that she remains

Proud and strange and so hopelessly hopefull

(Wishes and prayers are the way)

Wish on everything

(That we leave the lonely alone)

Pray that she remains

(And push the wounded away)

Proud and strange and so hopelessly hopeful

She shoplifts some Christmas gifts and a bracelet for herself

And considers phoning home, has some quarters in her hand

But she sits down on the sidewalk and bites her bottom lip

And spends the afternoon willing traffic lights to change