Slow Down Baby

I fell in love with that freckled face boy from two doors down;
Until the day my heart broke when his mama and him left town,
And this polaroid caught between my fingers tells the stories -
Of when we were two innocent kids; caught in the gentle breeze.

Catching butterflies and painting masquerade masks on our cheeks,
Playing hide-and-go-seek and tag until our knees went weak,
And his milky smile - set between the dimples engraved on his face,
Holds me strong when I can not catch myself from losing my grace.

We kept in touch with a letter or two to tell our secrets and stories -
But the only secret he didn't know was what his voice did to me,
The bright eyes that shone behind his laugh the night that he said -
"Hey kid, lets run away together; with nothing but the words in our heads."

And looking back now; through the dusty old pictures lost in time,
I set my hopes against the winding grey ribbon and the yellow lights,
With his smile in the back of my mind and his heart on the dashboard,
I smash the rearview mirror and keep movin' on in my Daddy's old Ford.

For every mile on this blacktop; another piece of my heart sinks to my toes,
Leaving the anguish of silence to eat away at me; the secrets no one knows,
And your footsteps set out a blurry path; with stop signs and bright city lights,
So slow down Baby, lets sit beneath the golden stars for one last night.

-Jenna Elphick
July 15, 2007