Oh, Carissa when I first saw you
You were a lovely child
And the last time I saw you
You were 15 and pregnant and running wild
I remember wondering could there be
a light at the end of your tunnel
But I left Ohio then and
had pretty much forgotten all about you
I guess you were there some years ago
at a family funeral
But you were one of so many relatives
I didn't know which one was you
Yesterday morning I woke up to so many
330 area code calls
I called my mom back and she was in tears
and asked had I spoke to my father
Carissa burned to death last night
in a freak accident fire
In her yard in Brewster her daughter came home
from a party and found her
Same way as my uncle
who was her grandfather
An aerosol can blew up in the trash,
goddamn what were the odds?
She was just getting ready to go
to her midnight shift as an RN in Wadsworth
Then she vanished up in flames like that
but there had to be more
to her life's worth
Everyone's grieving out of their minds
making arrangements and taking drugs
But I'm flying out there tomorrow because
I need to give and get some hugs
Cause I got questions that
I'd like to get answered
I may never get them, but Carissa
I gotta know how did it happen?
Carissa was 35
You don't just raise two kids
and take out your trash and die
She was my second cousin
