Sparkly Boots Waiting

Mum said you can’t wear gumboots to a wedding

Dad said the same,

like they’d rehearsed the line

So I packed the sparkly rainbow pair anyway Then the paddock turned

to soup and they all changed their mind

Flood zone, they said,

everybody wear the ugly ones Tried to stop me wearing the fancy

pair I’d found

Proof no one listens till the mud shows up

Then they want my idea with the glitter scraped off

When will it be my time

Standing off to the side

Watching two people promise forever

In a paddock that can’t stay dry

I clapped, I smiled,

I didn’t make a scene Kept the scream in my throat where

it always lives

When will it be my time

Lord, when will it be mine

Somebody behind me whispered there’s a spider Right there on my back

in the middle of I do

I flicked it off like a good girl at a wedding Didn’t

holler, didn’t ruin what wasn’t mine to ruin Wonder if he’d have

forgiven the screaming Guess I’ll never know,

I stayed polite That’s the joke of being the one in the

sparkly boots You keep the peace and you miss your own night

When will it be my time

Standing off to the side

Watching two people promise forever

In a paddock that can’t stay dry

I clapped, I smiled,

I didn’t make a scene Kept the scream in my throat where

it always lives

When will it be my time

Lord, when will it be mine

I ain’t cursing their vows

I’m just tired of being weather

The girl they call when the ground gives way Then tell to

stand still for the photograph

Rainbow boots in brown water That’s the whole picture of my life

so

far

When will it be my time

Not the guest, not the warning,

not the punchline When the boots are for dancing not for flood

When somebody looks at me and says that’s enough I’ll still clap

for the ones who got there first I’ll still flick the spider

and I won’t make it worse But I’m asking now,

I’m done being fine

When will it be my time Coffeebreak’s over — when will it

be mine