And my mother says Rebecca is as stubborn as they come
They both call to me with words I never knew
There’s a bug inside the thimble, there’s a band-aid on her thumb
And a pony in the river turning blue
They say,” Time may give you more than your poor bones could ever take”
My Rebecca says she never wants a boy
To be barefoot on the driveway as they wave and ride away
Then to run inside and curse the open door

I once gave to my Rebecca a belated promise ring
And she sold it to the waitress on a train
I may find her by the phone but with a fashion magazine
She may kiss me when her girlfriends leave again
They say, “Time may give you more than your poor bones could ever take”
I think I could never love another girl
To be free atop a tree stump and to look the other way
While she shines my mother’s imitation pearls

Sunday evening my Rebecca’s lost a book she never read
And the moon already fell into the sea
Saw the statues of our fathers in the courthouse flower bed
Now they blend with all the lightning-tattered trees
They say, “Time may give you more than your poor bones could ever take”
My Rebecca said she knew I’d want a boy
A dollar for my boardwalk red balloon, to float away
She would earn a pocketful to buy me more