Passive's Little River of Wealth
Don't You Want to Show Me?
I learned the truth at seventeen
That
love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear skinned smiles
Who married young and then retired
The
Valentines I never knew
The Friday night charades of Youth
Were spent on one more
beautiful
At seventeen I learned the truth

And those of us with ravaged faces
Lacking in the social graces
Desperately remained at home
Inventing
lovers on the phone
Who called to say - come
dance with me
And murmured
vague obscenities
It isn't all it seems at seventeen

A
brown eyed girl in hand me downs
Whose name I never could pronounce
Said -
Pity please the ones who serve
They only get what the deserve
The rich relationed hometown
queen
Marries into what she needs
With a guarantee of company
And haven for the elderly

So remember those who
win the game
Lose the
love they sought to gain
In debentures of quality and dubious integrity
Their small town eyes will gape at you
In dull surprise when
payment due
Exceeds accounts recieved at seventeen

To those of us who knew the
pain
Of
Valentines that never came
And those who names were never called
When choosing side for basketball
It was
long ago and far away
The world was younger than today
When
dreams were all they gave for free
To
ugly duckling girls like me

We all play the game, and when we dare
We cheat ourselves at
solitaire
Inventing
lovers on the phone
Repenting other lives unknown
They call and say - Come on,
dance with me
And murmur
vague obscenities
At
ugly girls like me, at seventeen

--Janis Ian

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