We Need a Better Word

It seems to me we need a better word

To fill the gap between the facts of what we say and what we've learned

When absolutely damn near every mother that I've known

Has miscarried and lost a baby a time or time before

It seems to me we need a better word

It seems to me that someone needs to say

As simple and as open and as obvious and plain

Cause the shame is in the secret and the secret is the shame

When absolutely damn near every mother that I've known

Has miscarried and lost a baby and held herself to blame

It seems to me that someone needs to say

    

It's just a word, as if she dropped it on the floor

It's just a word, as if it's something she did wrong

It seems to me our bodies know what's right

An ancient meditation on the chemistry of life

A thousand generations casting blessings in disguise

When absolutely damn near every mother that I've known

Has lost a baby and felt it carried off into the light

It seems to me our bodies know what's right

It's just a word, as if she dropped it on the floor

It's just a word, as if it's something she did wrong

Seems to me we've all defied the odds

Cause to lie among the living is to fly among the gods

To share the mother's heartbeat and to pass the mother's blood

And absolutely every single time a baby's born

It chose to be and knows to be the holiest of forms

Seems to me we've all defied the odds

It's just a word, as if she dropped it on the floor

It's just a word, as if it's something she did wrong

It seems to me we need a better word