For Nina Simone

I wish I could say I knew how it feels to be free

I wish I could fly till tired – and like a bird, settle in a tree

I wish I could say my tits are so big because I breastfed too long

Two and a half years pulling stretches tits out

Maybe so big from eating chickens force-fed hormones,

I think my problem is memory rot, because I have trouble focusing

I need a friend to stick with me through thick and thin

Literally, physically, emotionally, mentally, lean and leaner

both metaphorically and literally,

A special friend who will give me what I need

Who will be there when need

When I do deeds that make me feel alone

Who will be there for me as we agreed?

Someone to stand beside me when I succeed

Someone to be near when I fail but tried

Stand there with me while I wish they’d chosen me

But realize when it was time to pick

They didn’t pick me

I stood there under their watchful gaze, hoping,
yet knowing they won’t choose me

I’m not who you think I am,

The one you see with bright smiling gaze, nothing fazes her,

Turns her back fearlessly on hazing, moving in stride

I go it alone day after day

Like I’m in another time zone in the artic zone

I want a friend to see me through thick and thin

So please look the other way

Don’t say what you think you see because you can’t see me

Turning stones with my last breath I cry out friend!

There you are

Stand there beside me

I want a friend to see me through thick and thin

To understand my moans, use me

to help me chase away the blues that plague me –

Chase those blues away with surety like night fades to day –

I want a friend to see me through thick and thin

A friend who can give and take

Take generosity turns

I need a friend to be there when I let go, 

when I can’t hit high notes that sing songs to my heart

Need to play to know better days ahead

When your lips speak lies, I'll hold my head high

I need a friend to heal my blues – chase them away

Help me see sunny days, forget mud slinging out of tune

Songs that have no rhythm or rhyme to my heart of gold

Take this heart of gold and make it mine

I want a friend to see me through thick and thin

Make a shrine to this golden heart of mine