Wendy played fair, and she played by the rules that they gave her;
They say she grew up and grew old -- Peter Pan couldn't save her.
They say she went home, and she never looked back,
Got her feet on the ground, got her life on its track.
She's the patron saint priestess of all the lost girls who got found.
And she once had her head in the clouds, but she died on the ground.
Tick Tock
Wendy remembered what it felt like to fly.
She remembered calling a thimble a kiss and giving it the power of a name. She remembered seeing a shadow run away from its owner. She remembered sewing the shadow back to a boy’s cloth slippers.
She remembered holding the boy’s hand as he asked her to believe.
She remembered learning how to fly.
She went to Neverland. She saw crocodiles who had the ticking of the clock deep in their bellies. She saw pirates who hunted children. She saw mermaids who tried to drown her and the only human girl snubbed her.
Later when she grew up, when she heard her own crocodile ticking her own clock she wondered why she never tried to speak to them. She wondered what would have happened if she asked Peter to translate. She wondered what the mermaids sang about and what stories could Tiger Lily have shared.
Tick Tock
Wendy remembered what it felt like to fly. She remembered how a boy took her hand and asked her to come be a mother. She flew to where boys stayed children and clocks went tick tock in crocodiles and girls couldn’t speak to each other. Where boys are brought to stay children and girls are brought to be mothers.
See she couldn’t get older in Neverland. She couldn’t age but she was still asked to be an adult.
To be the little mother.
To tell the lost boys to wash their faces, eat their vegetables and go to bed on time.
She called a thimble a kiss and gave it to a boy who put responsibility on her child shoulders. Little boys can stay lost but little girls can never get lost in the first place, not really.
They say Peter Pan couldn’t save her from growing up.
He never brought her to Neverland to stop her from growing up. He brought her to be a mother, to give out thimble kisses and sew shadows onto feet. He didn’t bring her to learn the songs of mermaids, or to dance Tiger Lily’s dance. All he wanted was for someone else to take care of the people who looked up to him. He wanted to tease a hook handed pirate. He wanted to run from his own crocodile.
He wanted to be the only star Tink, Tiger Lily and Wendy saw.
Tick tock
Fairies aren’t always nice. Tinkerbell tried to blow up the world so she’d be the only thing that sparkled in a flighty boy’s eye. Fairies will pull your hair and pinch you until small bruises dot your skin. They might help you fly but they will watch and hope you fall.
Wendy remembered how it felt to have her feet lift off the ground. She remembered watching the fair dust fall around her and a beautiful, strange boy asking her to believe. She remembered seeing the cruel and wicked fairy start to flicker and die. She remembered clapping her hands and believing so the same fairy would live.
Tick Tock
Wendy remembered how to fly.
She also remembered how it felt to land
They say she died with her feet on the ground. They say she forgot how to fly.
They were wrong. Her story ended when she came home. When she stopped being a child/mother and choose to grow up.
Growing up is not a crime.
As a child she never asked why she couldn’t speak to the other girls on Neverland. She never asked why pirates chased children and the tick tock of the clock was a countdown to doom. She never asked what the songs or the dances meant. She never asked why a boy only looked at her to be a mother.
She never asked if she was worth more.
Wendy returned back to her school, back to her father that yelled, her mother who agreed and a dog who brought blankets.
Tick tock
Boys can stay lost but girls need to always be found. Dreams are for children and little girls have to grow up. Wendy watched the sky her entire life, looking for the boy who taught her to fly. She also looked around her for all the stories she missed before. She looked at the girls in her class and saw one who sparkled like Tinkerbell, one who sang like the mermaids and one who danced like Tiger Lily.
She asked for their stories.
She wondered what crocodiles chased them in their dreams.
Wendy loved a boy who didn’t know how to love her. She saw a beautiful, strange, wonderful boy who could take her on adventure after adventure. He saw a mother who could take away his responsibility.
She saw him for the stars in his eyes and he saw her for the way her feet stood on the ground.
They say she never looked back to Neverland, never looked back to the boy who taught her to fly. They were wrong.
She just decided she was more than being only a mother.
She could be a woman and a mother but never to this flying boy.
Wendy grew up and that is not a crime.