Prolific Jenn Setts
Jenn Setts was the new kid in school when I was seventeen
She walked the halls alone stoned as an empty queen
Seldom seen, bare-boned but graceful all the same
She'd sit at the picnic tables even when it rained
Content, carving spiders in the wood
She'd wear a long jacket second-hand hiding in the hood
Sometimes you could find her alone hiding in a nook
Curled up in a corner or even crying in a book
I always wanted to talk but never knew what to say
She moved in this way, quiet, removed and estranged
A tattoo of a moon on her waist, a bruise on her face
With white powder to smooth away the blues and the greys
Her beauty was strange, scars on her wrists were left
In a place where a knife had at one point split the flesh
Fingertips stained with cigarettes you could sense her sweet decay
Yet she was calm and never seemed afraid
Chorus X 2
We made my love and I, beneath the weeping willow
Nowhere to go at least we can dream a little
Keep it simple as the days go by
Stare at each other's minds and watch angels die
One day walking down the street I saw her sitting on the curb
Throwing crumbs of bread down to a little ring of birds
The pigeons didn't stir they gravitated to her silence
Dressed in black, with a little tinge of violet
I approached the pale face not sure what to say
Broke the silence with my step and watched the birds fly away
Reached for words but was left gazing at her black hair
Smiled but nothing came back but a blank stare
Thinking to myself, I should have left her there in peace
Cuz come to think, of it I'd never heard her speak
But took a seat beside her and said "Hi, I've seen you around…"
And she responded but she was speaking to the ground
She told me she lived with her dad that her mom was back at home
That she hated this town so she spent most her time alone
But she liked it that way, at least that's what she said
And then she turned and walked away, and that's how we met
Chorus X 2
On the ride home Jenn and I we took the same bus
So we'd sit together but neither of us would say much
I'd get off in my small town she'd get off in the country side
As I moved past from the inner seat my hands would brush her thighs
Sometimes our eyes'd connect, alive in the flesh
There was something between us but it seemed that silence was best
Yet one night I stayed with her until the last stop
An open field small house red sky as a back-drop
We stepped from the bus hands locked and walked inside the house
Into the gloomy dark where all the lights were out
Expect for the flicker of the tv and the red sky in the clouds
To see her father passed out, lying on the couch
She said "He's always like that, no one understands
I don't see why I have to live with him when my mother can't,"
He was an ugly man, face stained a rusted tan
The lonely owner of this open country land
I saw her run her hands along his side, in a mournful silence…
Silence.. are you alright…?
And she said come, I have, something to show you
A place that I love that I want you to go to
I followed as she ran off deep into the field
To the weeping willow where she stopped and said here
Father said it's been growing more than a hundred years
It's where I lie and let the wind whisper sweet nothings in my ear
So we sat under the tree and I could feel her holding on
Her skin was cold and soft but below her soul was calm
Lying on stones and moss until the sun rose at dawn
Watching the smoke and smog roll across the open pond
....Watching the smoke and smog roll across the open pond....