Parameters
Ani Difranco

Thirty-three years go by and not once do you come home

To find a man sitting in your bedroom

That is, a man you don't know

Who came a long way to deliver one very specific message

Lock your back door, you idiot

However invincible you imagine yourself to be, you are wrong


Thirty-three years go by

And you loosen the momentum of teenage nightmares

Your breasts hang like a woman's

And you don't jump at shadows anymore

Instead you may simply pause to admire

Those that move with the grace of trees dancing past streetlights


And you walk through your house without turning on lamps

Sure of the angle from door to table, from table to staircase

Sure of the number of steps, seven to the landing

Two to turn right then seven more

Sure you will stroll serenely on the moving walkway of memory

Across your bedroom and collapse with a sigh onto your bed


Shoes falling thunk thunk onto the floor

And there will be no strange man, suddenly all that time sitting there

Sitting there on what must be the prize chair

In your collection of uncomfortable chairs with a wild look in his eyes

And hands that you cannot see, holding what? You do not know


So sure are you of the endless drumming rhythm of your isolation

That you are painfully slow to adjust

If only because yours is not that genre of story

Still and again, life cannot muster the stuff of movies

No bullets shattering glass instead fear sits patiently

Fear almost smiles when you finally see him


Though you have kept him waiting for thirty-three years

And now he has let himself in

And he has brought you fistfuls of teenage nightmares

Though you think you see, in your naivete that he is empty handed

And this brings you great relief at the time


New as you are, really, to the idea that

Even after you've long since gotten used to the parameters

They can all change

While you're out one night having a drink with a friend

Some big hand may be turning a big dial

Switching channels on your dreams

Until you find yourself lost in them

And watching your daily life with the sound off


And of course having cautiously turned down the flame under your eyes

There are more shadows around everything

Your vision, a dim flashlight

That you have to shake all the way to the outhouse

Your solitude elevating itself like the spirit of the dead

Presiding over your supposed repose, not really sleep at all

Just a sleeping position and a series of suspicious sounds

A clanking pipe, a creaking branch, the footfalls of a cat


All of this and maybe

The swish of the soft leather of your intruder's coat

As you walk him step by step back to the door

Having talked him down off the ledge of a very bad idea

Soft leather, big feet, almond eyes

The kinds of details the police officer would ask for later

With his clipboard and his pistol in your hallway


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Lyrics by Ani Difranco

  'Tis of Thee   1,000,000   2nd Intermission   32 Flavors   32 Flavors [Live][*]   4th of July   78% H20   78% H2O   A Spade   ¿Which Side Are You On?   ¿Which Side Are You On?   Adam and Eve   Aids   Ain't That The Way   Akimbo   Albacore   Alla This   Allergic to Water   Amazing Grace   Amendment   Angel Food   Angry Any More   Angry Any.   Angry Anymore   Animal   Anticipate   Anyday   As Is   Asked You First   Asked You First (live)   Asking Too Much   Astronaut (feat. Radiohead)   Astronaut (Ft Radiohead)   Back Around   Back Back Back   Beautiful Night   Bliss Like This   Blood in the Boardroom   Bodily   Born a Lion   Both Hands   Both Hands (Live In Austin, Texas)   Both Hands [Live in Austin, Texas]   Both Hands [Live in Austin, Texas]   Both Hands [New Version]   Brief Bus Stop   Brief Bus Stop [*]   Bubble   Building And Bridges   Buildings & Bridges   Buildings and Bridges   Callous   Carry You Around   Christians & Pegans   Christians and Pagans   Circe of Light   Circle of Light   Cloud Blood   Cloud Blood?   Cold & Mean   Cold And Mean   Cold And Mean (Answering Machine)   Come Away   Come Away From It   Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd cover)   Coming Up   Company   Cradle & All   Cradle & All   Cradle & All   Cradle and All   Cradle And All (Live)   Crime for Crime   Decree   Deep Dish   Dilate   Diner   Distracted   Dithering   Do Re Me   Do Re Me (Woody Guthrie cover)   Do Re Me (Woody Guthrie cover)   Dog Coffee   Don't Nobody Know   Done Wrong   Educated G.   Educated Guess   Egos Like Hairdos   Egos Like Hairdos (Live)   Emancipated   Emancipated Minor   Everest   Every Angle   Every State Line   Evolve   Evolve - Album: Evolve   Face up & Sing   Face Up And Sing   Fair Weather   Falling Is Like This   Feakshow   Fierce Flawless   Find A Fire   Fire Door   Fixing Her Hair   Flood Waters   Forest For the Trees   Freakshow   Fuel   Fuel (spoken Word)   Garden Of Simple   Glass House   God's Country   Going Down   Going Once   Good Luck   Good, Bad, Ugly   Grand Canyon   Gratitude   Gravel   Grey   Half-Assed   Handsome Musician   Happy All the Time   Harder Than It Needs To Be   Harvest   Hat Shaped Hat   Hear The Train   Hearse   Heart Break Even   Heartbreak Even   Hell Yeah   Hello Birmingham   Here for Now   Here For Now - Album: Evolve   Hide & Seek (is The Zygote Song!!)   Hide & Seek   Hide And Seek   Hide Seek   Hour Follows Hour   How Have You Been   How Long Can It Last   Hurricane   Hurricane (Bob Dylan cover)   Hurricane (Bob Dylan cover)   Hypnotized   I Know This Bar   I'm No Heroine   Icarus   Icarus - Album: Evolve   If He Tries Anything   If It Isn't Her   If Yr Not   Imagine That   Imperfectly   In Here   In or Out   In The Margins   In the Margins   In the Way   In The Way - Album: Evolve   Independence Day   Itch   J   Joyful Girl   Joyful Girl (Danger And Uncertainty Mix)   Joyful Girl (Live With The Buffalo Philharmonic)   Joyful Girl (Peace And Love Extended Mix)   Joyful Girl (Peace And Love Mix)   Joyful Girl [Live]   Joyful Girl [Live]   Jukebox   Kazoointoit   Know Now Then   Knuckle Down   Lag Time   Landing Gear   Letter to a John   Letting the Telephone Ring   Letting the Telephone Ring [*]   Life Boat   Light of Some Kind   Little Plastic Castle   Looking for the Holes   Loom   Lost Woman Song   Lullaby   Make Me Stay   Make Them Apologize   Manhole   Mariachi   Mariachi   Marrow   Millennium Theater   Minerva   Modulation   Most Of The Time   Most Of The Time (accompanied On Violin By Cregan ...   My I Q   My I.Q.   My IQ   My Name Is Lisa Kalvelage   Names & Dates   Names & Dates   Names and Dates and Times   Napoleon   Napoleon [New Version]   Napoleon [New Version]   Nicotine   No Reason To Come Home   North Main Street   Not a Pretty Girl   Not Angry Anymore   Not So Soft   O My My   O My My - Album: Evolve   O. K.   O.K.   Oh My My   Old Old Song   On Every Corner   One More Night   One Times One Times One   Origami   Origami - Educated Guess Album   Out of Habit   Out of Range   Out Of Range (electric Version)   Out of Range (Electric)   Out of Range [Acoustic]   Out of Range [Electric]   Outa Me, Onto You   Outta Me, Onto You   Overlap   Overlap [New Version]   Overlap [New Version]   Pale Purple   Paradigm   Perfect Fingers   Phase   Phase - Album: Evolve   Pick Yer Nose   Pixie   Pixie (Be Nice)   Platforms   Present Infant   Present/Infant   Prison Prism   Promiscuity   Promised Land   Promised Land - Album: Evolve   Providence   Pulse   Rain check   Raincheck   Rainy Parade   Reckoning   Recoil   Red Letter Year   Reprieve   Reprise   Revelling   Rock Paper Scissors   Rockabye   Roll With It   Round A Pole   Rush Hour   School Night   Second Intermission   Second Intermission - Album: Evolve   See See See See   Seeing Eye Dog   Self Evident   Serpentine   Serpentine - Album: Evolve   Served Faithfully   Shameless   Shameless (Bathtub Mix)   Shameless [New Version]   Shameless [New Version]   She Says   Shroud   Shroud   Shrug   Shrug - Album: Evolve   Shy   Sick Of Me   Silver Ingrid   Sistersong   Slide   Slide - Album: Evolve   Small World   Smiling Underneath   So What   Soft Shoulder   Sorry I Am   Splinter   Star Matter   Still My Heart   Studying Stones   Subconscious   Subdivision   Submerged   Subway   Sunday Morning   Superhero   Swan Dive   Swandive   Swim   Swim - Album Educated Guess   Swing   Swing (Radio Set)   Swing [Album Version]   Swing [Radio Set]   Talk To Me Now   Tamburitza Lingua   That Was My Love   The Arrivals Gate   The Atom   The Boys In Blue   The Diner   The Internationale   The Million You Never Made   The Million You Never Made [#]   The Next Big Thing   The Slant   The Story   The True Story Of What Was   The Waiting Song   The Whole Night   This Bouqet   This Bouquet   This Box Contains...   This Box Contains...   Tip Toe (outtakes)   Tiptoe   To Be Free   To the Teeth   To the Teeth [Shoot-Out Remix]   Tr’w   Travel Tips   Trickle Down   True Story Of What Was   Two Little Girls   Unforgettable   Unrequited   Untouchable Face   Unworry   Up Up Up Up Up Up   Used Cars   Used to You   Virtue   Waiting For Susan   Way Tight   Welcome To   Welcome to :   Welcome To:   Welcome To: - Album: Evolve   What How When Where   What How When Where (Why Who)   What If No One's Watching   Whatall Is Nice   Whatever   When Doves Cry   When Doves Cry (Prince cover)   When I'm Gone   Wherever   Which Side Are You On   Which Side Are You On?   Willing to Fight   Wish I May   Wishin' & Hopin'   Wishin' And Hopin'   Woe Be Gone   Work Your Way Out   Worthy   Wrong With Me   Yeah Yr Right   You Each Time   You Had Time   Your House   Your Next Bold Move   Your Next Bold Move [New Version]   Your Next Bold Move [New Version]   Zoo

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