Waking up to an alarm as loud as your heartbeat,

it is now time to leave, to turn to the next chapter.

Sleepy eyes are brightened with excited smiles,

too late to turn back now, but you wouldn’t want to.

No one can change your mind, but that won’t stop

anyone from telling you their plans for your life.

Waking up to the stench of cigarettes in the pillow,

a grumbling in the belly, time for an adventure.

Sissy is already dressed and arguing with momma,

wanting to leave the house and go onto school.

I decide a cold hot dog will have to do,

still wondering if momma is gonna pass out again.

My little bird, it is now your turn for a new era

only waiting 18 years for the freedom of your life.

In a place where each experience is a new lesson,

a destination made for mistakes to be made.

Just remember, to live the life you can show off

rather than pay rent on a wooden rollercoaster.

My little bird, hold my hand tightly, don’t let go

I promise that I will never leave you.

Replacing the stain of cigarettes in our noses

with flowery perfume and a clean carpet.

Fear and lack of control stream down our faces,

sincerer than the defeat rolling down her cheeks.

To the next chapter and write your story,

just as easily as writing your name.

Allow the past to be left behind on the bookshelf,

and open the door to a new library of possibilities.

Forget to lament and to abhor addicts that choke

more on dreams than embers in a pipe.

To the next chapter, leaving behind the first few

in a box to be found at a much later date.

Inside our favorite movie continues to resume,

Jenny has voiced our prayers for so long.

“Dear God, make me a bird, so I can fly far far far away,”

Has finally been answered for sissy and me.