Sticks and Stones

(Instrumental intro)

When did the anguish first begin
When did the viper venture in           
And snare our loving child
Who always wore a smile                
While growing free and wild 

From when she newly flowered            
As if from some dark cloud
Light faded from that day                        
In a dark and dismal shroud                 
She quietly drifted away                    

Blinded by the lies
Spat from the viper’s eyes                      
From this snake in the grass
Who would never let her pass
Through his veil of vitriol and hate

She could no longer see the light
She knew not wrong from right     
Stranded in a dark abyss                                          
She only heard the serpent’s hiss     
In a lonely world that ran amiss                  

It was breaking our hearts
To watch her fall apart
She could not comprehend
Her life was not to end
Switch off the crippling sound
Turn your life around
Open up new doors                                  
The fault is theirs not yours                    
With so much to give    
So many, so many, so many reasons to live 
 
Don’t give up the ground
Quell the baying hound
There are no sticks and stones
There are no broken bones
In time you’ll come to see
They’re only ugly words

Only words.

Rodd Sherwin
to a composition by
Jeremy Wiliams