Ruby's Song


Well I was looking round the corner,

I was looking everywhere.

I even searched out on the pavement, but I didn't see you there.

So I went back, retraced my footsteps,

All the while I was unsure.

I don't know why I chose to look again,

Then look again, once more.

 

Then I saw you hiding behind a curtain,

A smile so lovely, winsome, bittersweet ,

Your painted toes and daisy feet just tappin' out a clue –

'Case I didn't find you.

 

I saw you hiding behind a curtain.

You were so awfully busy concentrating,

Making plans and calculating all the things you'd be –

When you would become a grown-up, just like me.

I saw you hiding. I saw you hiding.

 

And I was moving slow, but thinking fast.

I did not want this game to be the last one that we’d play –

Children grow so awfully quickly, anyway.

 

So close your eyes and count from one to ten.

Everybody scatters. Game began!

There's laughter and there’s footsteps everywhere.

(There's something funny moving underneath that chair.)

 

Don't cry! You know the rules.

When they find you, that's the end. They say, "You lose!"

But if they take too long,

No one sees you, no one finds you, no one hears your song….

 

I saw you hiding behind a curtain.

And though that fabric was of thinnest gauze,

I did not stop. I didn't even pause.

I know you wondered if I'd stay,

But you know I’d always find you, anyway.

 

You know that I would find you. You know that I would find you.

You know that I would find you.  I’d go looking.

I’d go looking one more time, one more time,

One more time, one more time.

 

And I would find you.