Change.

"Wow," they say, "you're growing up,
"Your eyes are strange, your face is changing."
Guess you could say I'm not the same
They keep saying, they keep saying
Here's a shade of many years
My hair is kept, my clothes are clean
I speak with intelligence
I'm not a child, I don't think
Now people from my younger years
See me passing time to time
Sometimes they avoid my glance
Sometimes they look me in the eye
They might greet me with a word
Or break into a smile
They seem like they're about to cry
Every once in a while
Sometimes they never say a word
And stay away a couple feet
That's when I pretend not to note
That they're staring at me
"Please don't tell me that I've changed,
"Believe me now, I know.
"If I've dealt with chapters full of pain,
"That would mean I've grown."
But I look at them and we both understand
Who I used to be's no longer who I am
How long will I be in this familiar stance?
I watch them observe the bruises on my hands

Well, you never know it's over till it's gone

And you never know there's hurt till it carries on

And they never know you're right till you prove them wrong

So you've gotta grow up and take a long shot

See, where's your little girl that earns tough boys' respect?

And where's the one with the soccer ball?

Wearing basketball shorts and her rugged hair down

Swinging or standing up tall

I guess she should've fallen off the face of your earth

Never thought you'd see her around

Maybe you fooled yourself into thinking she was never gonna change

As soon as you left her town

It doesn't matter.

I'm out of state now watching Florida blow through my sister's hair

And she's collecting seashells on the beach
And every time I flash back, you're always there
I'm still checking everyone's blogs
Every hour I'm away
'Cause there's a beating thing inside that cares too much
So I'm making sure that my girls are okay
The palm trees sway back and forth
And there's salt in the cool, cloudy air
There's a slight taste of home that keeps blowing about
And dear, I see you everywhere
I look out the car window
Just like I used to look out the one that sits in my room
My eyes are glued to the atmosphere
And I'm searching the sky for you

My thoughts take up too much space

So I hurl them onto this worn out blog

And they twist into barely-formed rhymes

I'm not like them, but I can try

Would that be enough for her?

Because it seems I've strained for something beyond the stars

I have to keep writing about how I don't need everyone's respect

Because otherwise they see the scars

You know, they never understand completely

And maybe only one person's ever really known me
The person I'm not gonna see for a few more weeks
No, they don't understand.
But she never tells me
About anything in her life
So my heart listens through doors
And reads between the lines
Every freaking time.
And she'll say that it's fine
She's good, she can lie
But she forgot I
Know how to read minds

That doesn't matter either, I'll write it till it's true

There are still so many things I'm learning how to do

Like how to trick myself into not thinking about you

It never works, but I get through 

I hold onto your voice when I hear it at night

Am I losing you, or losing the fight?

Everything goes like the fading of light 

You're more like a dream now, but it's still mine

And Mom says, "Missing makes the heart grow fonder,"

As if that was something I needed to ponder

And I tell myself that I'll keep getting stronger

But these days just tell me that they're stretching longer

But that's alright.

See, the things that used to matter to me

Don't matter to me at all

And the things I never thought about

Are the things for which I fall

I'm not excited to grow up

And they look at me like they're so done

But the one thing I can say is

Wendy Darling changes