Poem - based on the life of Gladys Geary.
With a little help from Rachmaninoff (Prelude, Op. 3, No. 2)
Collabs from the MusesMuse and some recited poetry/lyrics.
Story behind the song
After studying our family tree for years and hearing all kinds of conflicting stories about several characters, including my great-great Aunt Gladys and her brothers, Chuck and Gordon, I began writing about them. This is actually a complete overhaul of a simpler poem I wrote in high school, "A Free Spirit"
Lyrics
The smell of cheap cigarettes floods my senses
She floats into the room, on cloud nine
On one arm, another rich playboy
On the other, a handsome rogue -
She believes their lies, make-up creased and wrinkled,
Oblivious to her hideousness,
she milks them for every dime
Tall tales escape her red lips -
charm oozing, staining her faux mink coat
Draped across his arm, it’s difficult to believe
she’d graduated top of her class and was a concert pianist
Her fingers, now yellowed with chipped nail polish
grasp a tumbler - whiskey on the rocks
her other hand idly caresses a mole on her throat
The playboy lights her cigarette,
the rogue ogles her jewelry, calculating
Willfully ignoring their practiced seduction
She pretends it is as it was - the ghosts of Gordon and Chuck -
brothers, partners - inseparable since birth,
reunited at the gates of Hell - she smiles wistfully
caught up in a past memory, beautiful yet aggravating
She catches my eye, but pretends not to see me
Though her face turned pale, her fingers restless
Nervous, she excitedly regales her past adventures
with renewed passion, determined to be the center of attention
all duties, responsibilities, maternal instincts drowning
in booze and a faulty self image
and I become another obstacle, now faceless
As I turn to walk away, I watch as she slips her hand
into the playboy’s pocket and gracefully tucks the money
under her collar as she adjusts the fur
She flinches when the rogue grasps her thigh,
but recovers her composure and gulps the rest of her whiskey
The familiar trill of her laughter echoes
in my mind and throughout eternity
