Velvet Voice Blues - Parking Lot Tears

I held it through the meeting when they cut me down again.
Held it through the dinner when he talked about his pain.
Held it through the phone call from my mama saying, "Hush." Held it till I hit the parking lot and let the
whole thing rush. Women like me don't cry in public.
We cry in parking lots at two AM.
Women like me don't cry in public.
We cry in parking lots at two AM.
We hold the whole world up by day.
Fall apart
and then we rise again.
There's a specific kind of crying that belongs to parking lots and cars,
where you're finally in the nowhere between everyone's demands and stars.
Where nobody needs your answer,
and nobody needs your smile, and you can be completely broken for a merciful short while.
Women like me don't cry in public.
We cry in parking lots at two AM.
Women like me don't cry in public.
We cry in parking lots at two AM.
We hold the whole world up by day, and fall apart,
and then we rise again.
I know a woman judged by day
who cries in her garage.
I know a surgeon, steady hands, who cries behind her mirage.
I know a preacher woman, strong as stone, who cries in the parking lot at church.
We all got our specific place where we take our specific hurt.
Women like me don't cry in public.
We cry in parking lots at two AM.
Women like me don't cry in public.
We cry in parking lots at two AM.
We hold the whole world up by day, and fall apart,
and then we rise again.
The mascara tells a story when we come back through the door.
We fix it in the visor mirror like we've fixed it all before.
A little water and a tissue and we're ready for the floor.
Nobody ever asks what happened, and we never say what's sore.
Women like me don't cry in public.
We cry in parking lots at two AM.
Women like me don't cry in public.
We cry in parking lots at two AM.
We hold the whole world up by day, and fall apart, and then we rise again.
I wish we didn't have to hide the water that we carry.
I wish the world made room for women who are sometimes temporary.
Who sometimes need a moment
in the middle of the day
to fall completely open
in a real and honest way.
Women like me don't cry in public.
We cry in parking lots at two AM.
Women like me- Women like me don't cry in public.
We cry in parking lots at two AM.
We hold the whole world up by day, and fall apart, and then we rise again.
She said, "Mama, why don't you just cry in front of them and let them see?"
I said, "Because they need to believe there's someone strong enough to be
the thing that holds when everything is tilting and unclear."
She said, "I'd love you even more
if you let me see your fear." Women like me don't cry in public.
We cry in parking lots at two AM.
Women like me don't cry in public.
We cry in parking lots at two AM.
We hold the whole world up by day, and fall apart, and then we rise again.
So here's to the parking lots, the garages, and the cars.
To the women doing both things underneath the self-same stars.
Holding up the daylight and collapsing in the night.
The most honest thing a woman does is keep on finding light.
Women like me don't cry in public, and fall apart,
and then we rise again.
There's a specific kind of crying that belongs to parking lots and cars.
To the women doing both things underneath the self-same stars.
Holding up the daylight and collapsing in the night.
The most honest thing a woman does is keep on finding light.
Women like me don't cry in public.
We cry in parking lots at two AM.
Women like me don't cry in public, mm, and fall apart,
and then we rise again.