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