Is that you, sweetheart         I’ve got these ashes 
in my eyes           no fingers now to rub them with 
I came back to     they even make your hair look gray!
What I’m trying to say is      I’ve thought things through
and         but my thoughts have been so scattered since
I saw you last.                                 I could tell you 
where I’ve been    the morgue   the flames        the sky.   
Part of me escaped     although they claimed otherwise.
What remained                   was taken out in that 
ridiculously expensive boat     and sprinkled in the Bay
under the Golden Gate.               All these jangled angles 
I’ve seen things from          how your mother blamed 
you for                 when did you get those dark shadows 
below your lovely eyes                    I know you hoped 
I’d take a stand when she started in           and I wish
I’d       such a glare from that window!      Could you        
pull the shade?      Well, anyway, I do see she was
unreasonable      and   I              there were reasons 
for her            unreasonableness        like the six
       who didn’t live                you were the lucky one.  
The point being, she expected you to be all seven
and when you weren’t, she   I    should have     my 
throat’s so dry, I’m still choking from the detritus,
debris, it’s been what, twenty years since I tried 
to speak     all that dust from the chimney smoke
    you know, I think I hear your mother calling me
I’ve got to go     Oh don’t cry        Don’t cry    Don’t 
make your father sad             whatever happened 
to my happy little girl?