give me something to sing about

I found a beautifully sad song today.

Burning herself 

by Harry Chapin

She was crazy (she was beautiful),

I guess she had to be.

I was angry (you were blind),

because I could not see.

I saw only what her cigarettes had done to her skin.

I should have known the outside world

would reveal what was within.

She was burning herself,

and her hair was filled with ashes.

She was burning herself, 

and her life becomes a flame.

She was burning herself,

and her passion,

her passion was her pain.

She was trusting (you could have saved her too),

all hope had passed for her.

I was lusting (and she gave to you),

that's all I asked for her.

The marks upon her body

and the marks upon her mind.

I could have erased them

if I'd only taken the time.

I never saw her do it, 

I only saw the scars. 

I never could imagine

what would make her go that far.

I wondered,

was she driven by desperate need to feel,

to find out she was living,

to discover life was real.

Or was it that the pain

slicing through her like a knife

was easier to take

than the emptiness of life?

Had a strange sense of drama

caught her in a role,

or was she trying to cauterize

the chancres on her soul? 

I don't know

I don't know

I don't know...