Such a overly played song, such a popular tune, such provocative lyrics... and I want to scream at the young woman singing them! So here they are (short version), followed by my revision...
"If I Die Young"
If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river, at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song,
Uh oh, uh oh.
Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother
She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors, oh and
Life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no
Ain't even grey, but she buries her baby
The sharp knife of a short life, well
I've had just enough time...
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My Turn
Don't sing of death
laying down in roses
with a voice never touched by pain.
Please don't ask me to listen to your story of the rainbow
when you haven't seen the rain.
Don't sing about dying when death hasn't yet come
ask it only of your loved ones when your day is truly done.
Oh no, oh no...
I listened to her tears,
I felt her aching pain
I knew her broken spirit
like the rainbow knows the rain.
We read her letters
that she took the time to pen,
knowing it would be the last of her words
we would ever hear again.
We honored her wishes
when we scattered her ashes
near the old tree overlooking the lake
where she longed to be for eternity.
Her final resting place,
not asked for in a song
before her life was over,
only after she was gone.
So don't ask to lay in a bed of roses
when you don't have the right,
If no one's listening,
yell, scream, and holler
don't wait until you're gone
because the words won't matter...
No one has just enough time....
Oh no, oh no.
Bambi Lynn Rake Tidwell
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