Teenage Parents

You climb six lonely sets of stairs to your apartment

After another graveyard shift in the cold dull light of morning

You walked in just in time to catch her as she's leaving

But the schedules and the conflicts kept the roof over our heads

And you said you were strong and naive and

If you were scared, well, I would understand

I don't think I would have had the guts to handle it

All we had were hand-me-downs

And all we had was good will

And you always said it would get better

When you're young and you're poor, they hang on your failures

And you always said it would get better

I'm sick of seeing ghosts. I won't be here

Forever

We bought our first house at the advent of the 90s

A cape cod on a busy street that we swore we'd fix eventually

Winter of '93, we got by with kerosene

A heater in the living room we huddled around shivering and me

Trying to get to sleep. My clothes will smell of smoke for weeks

Just trying to get to sleep. My mother wore a sundress on

All we had were hand-me-downs

All we had was good will

And you always said it would get better

When you're young and you're poor, they hang on your failures

And you always said it would get better

But I'm sick of seeing ghosts. I won't be here forever

My mother wore a sundress on the day that she got married

They held the wedding in a backyard near the city

I was just one then. I would never remember it

But I heard the voices and implications

Telling me who I could never be

All we had were hand-me-downs

And all we had was good will

All we had were hand-me-downs

All we had was good will

And you always said it would get better

When you're young and you're poor, they hang on your failures

And you always said it would get better