I Will Be Back Before You Notice

[Verse]

My little sister is eleven and she did the maths herself

about how many weekends there are between now and Christmas

and she told me the number at the door with her arms folded

in the voice she uses when she has decided not to cry.

And I did not say it will fly by, because it will not fly by,

and I did not say you will be busy, because that is a dodge,

and I said a real number back to her, and I have kept it since.