I learned the truth at seventeen
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that love was meant 4 beauty queens
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and high school girls with clear skinned smiles
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who married young and then retired
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the valentines I never knew
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the Friday night charades of youth
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were spent on one more beautiful
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at seventeen I learned the truth
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and those of us with ravaged faces
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lacking in social graces
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desperately remained at home
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inventing lovers on the phone
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who called to say come dance with me
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and murmured vague obscenities
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it isn¡¯t all it seems at seventeen
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a brown eyed girl in hand me downs
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whose name I could never pronounce
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said - pity please the ones who serve
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they only get what they deserve
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the rich relationed hometown queen
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marries into what she needs
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with a guarantee of company
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and haven for the elderly
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remember those who win the game
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lose the love they sought to gain
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in debentures of quality and dubious integrity
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their small town eyes will gape at you
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in dull surprise when payment due
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exceeds account received at seventeen
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to those of us who knew the pain
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of valentines that never came
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and those whose names were never called
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when choosing sides for basketball
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it was long ago and far away
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the world was younger than today
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when dreams were all they gave for free
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to ugly duckling girls like me
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we all play the game and when we dare
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to cheat ourselves at solitaire
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inventing lovers on the phone
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repenting other lives unknown
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who call and say - come dance with me
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and murmur vague obscenities
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to ugly girls like me, at seventeen
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At Seventeen
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D.H.T. |