Leslie Anne Levine

my name is leslie ann levine
my mother birthed me down a dry ravine
my mother birthed me far too soon
born at nine and dead at noon

fifteen years gone now
i still wander this parapet
and shake my rattle bone
fifteen years gone now
i still cling to the petticoats
of the girl who died with me

on the roof above the streets
the only love i've known 's a chimney sweep
lost and lodged inside a flue
back in 1842

fifteen years gone now
i still wail from these catacombs
and curse my mother's name
fifteen years gone now
still a wastrel mesallied
has brought this fate on me

my name is leslie ann levine
i've got no one left to mourn for me
my body lies inside its grave
in a ditch not far away

fifteen years gone now
i still wander this parapet
and shake my rattle bone
fifteen years gone now
i still cling to the petticoats
of the girl who died with me