Jars of purple hair dye lined your shelf
With dull eye pencils, pigments meant to reinvent yourself
You decoupaged the walls and hung up branches sprayed with gold
Finding ways to make shit shine, the life left in what's old
Your shine was just too much for that mean town
You tried to give 'em sparkle but they'd only knock you down
And when they left you bludgeoned, bruised, and bloodied on the tracks
You knew it wasn't in you to grow hard and give it back
You knew yourself in a way I never have
I drown in drops of water before I draw the bath
No sooner would your swim to shore than an earthquake split the sand
But you'd crawl your way through rubble to my door
To ask me how I'd been
There were times when it was hard to be your friend
And even flames of friendship need some fanning now and then
A phoenix needs some embers left to rise from like the sun
An alley cat can only gamble nine times 'til she's done
So I guess that what I'm saying's I'm not mad
'Least not with you, how could I be with all the hurt you've had?
I wish that I could offer something more than a cliche
But your shine was just too much for me to capture on a page