Jann Arden
At Seventeen
I leaned the truth at seventeenThat love was meant for beauty queensAnd high school girls with clear-skinned smilesWho married young and then retiredThe valentines I never knewThe Friday night charades of youthWere spent on one more beautifulAt seventeen I learned the truthAnd those of us with ravaged facesLacking in the social gracesDesperately remained at homeInventing lovers on the phoneWho called to say, "Come dance with me"And murmured vague obscenitiesIt isn't all it seems at seventeenA brown-eyed girl in hand-me-downsWhose name I never could pronounceSaid, "Pity, please, the ones who serveCause they only get what they deserve"And the rich relationed hometown queenMarries into what she needsLetras de cancionesWith a guarantee of companyAnd haven for the elderlySo remember those who win the gameLose the love they sought to gainIn debentures of quality and dubious integrityTheir small town eyes will gape at youIn dull surprise when payment dueExceeds accounts received at seventeenTo those of us who knew the painOf valentines that never cameAnd those whose names were never calledWhen choosing sides for basketballIt was long ago and far awayThe world was younger than todayWhen dreams were all they gave for freeTo ugly duckling girls like meWe all play the game and when we dareTo cheat ourselves at solitaireInventing lovers on the phoneRepenting other lives unknownThey call and say, "Come on, dance with me"And murmur vague obscenitiesAt ugly girls like me at seventeen
From Letras Mania