Carissa

[Verse 1]

Oh Carissa, when I first saw you, you were a lovely child

And the last time I saw you

You were fifteen 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

And 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've got to know, how did it happen?

[Chorus 1]

Carissa was thirty-five

You don't just raise two kids and take out your trash and die

She was my second cousin

I didn't know her well at all but it don't mean that I wasn't

Meant to find some poetry

To make some sense of this, to find a deeper meaning

In this senseless tragedy

Oh, Carissa, I'll sing your name across every sea

[Verse 2]

Were you doing someone else's chores for them?

Were you just killing time

Finding things to do all by your lonesome?

Was it even you who mistakenly put flammables in the trash?

Was it your kids just being kids?

If so, oh, the guilt they will carry around forever

Well, I'm going out there to get a look at the landscapes

To get a look at those I'm connected by blood

And see how it all may have shaped me

Well, I'm going out there though I'm not really needed

I'm just so broken up about it

How is it that this sad history repeated?

[Bridge]

I'll return to Ohio (I'll return to Ohio)

To the place I was spawned (To the place I was spawned)

Going to see where I hung with my cousins

And played with them in the snow and fished in their ponds

Going to see how they've grown (Gonna see how they've grown)

Visit some graves, and say, "Hey, I've missed you"

Going to find out as much as I can

About my little second cousin Carissa

Gonna go to Ohio (Gonna go to Ohio)

Where I was born (Where I was born)

Got a 10:45 AM flight, I'm leaving tomorrow morning

Gonna see my aunts and uncles (See my...)

My parents and sisters

But mostly, I'm going to pay my respects

To my little second cousin, Carissa

Going to Ohio (I'm gonna go to Ohio)

Where I feel I belong (Where I feel I belong)

Ask those who know the most about Carissa

For it is her life and death that I am helplessly drawn

[Chorus 2]

Carissa was thirty-five

Raised kids since she was fifteen years old and suddenly died

Next to an old brick firepit

Oh, there's gotta be more than that to it

She was only my second cousin

But it don't mean that I'm not here for her

Or that I wasn't meant to give her life poetry

Or to make sure her name is known across every sea