weighed down by a pocketful of pebbles

white pebbles leave a trail
in the deep dark forest
are you Hansel?
are you Gretel?
are you the witch?

the children
always return
to the dad that 
abandoned them to die
when his bitch wife
 didn't feel like feeding them

and where was their sweet mother?
that would have given her life for theirs
buried behind the house
daddy probably told them
it was a fever he couldn't break
but we all know he just didn't give a shit

when he realized he had two kids to raise
no money
 no bread baking skills
he married the bitch from town
who could count coins
and was shrewd enough
to realize if they wanted to survive
the children had to be sacrificed
in the deep dark wood

the daughter was smart
maybe her wise mother
rose from the dirt 
to whisper in her ear
how to fucking survive

so this little girl
had to save her brother 
kill some old hag
and give her idiot dad
the treasures she had gotten
with her inherent survival skills

Gretel's future is fated
taking care of the man
that murdered her mother
and maybe even her evil stepmother
she will have to raise her fat little brother 
that was too stupid to outsmart
an old blind witch

the weight this little girl has to carry
she doesn't even get to enjoy the 
treasures she got 
she had to cook an old woman alive
now all she has is nightmares

while she takes care of everyone
she dreams of freedom
she dreams of riding horses in the wind
eating bread she hasn't baked
and a man that won't make her go through
this all over again

she still keeps a pocketful
of white pebbles to drop in the dark night
because if there is one thing she has learned
its that you can't trust a man to do what's right
her skirts are heavy with abandonment issues

while her father and brother count the gold
she got them
her mother and stepmother
lay buried in the backyard
she knows her fate
if she doesn't stay smarter then them
and succumbs to thinking 
they value her 
she will be in the backyard as well

the next time Gretel makes dinner
she will pocket the knife with her pebbles
what she can hide from them
is what keeps her safe