There once was a little girl

Whom they’d hidden from the world

Oh, pardon me,

My mistake,

This little boy’s name was James

“Jane,” they’d call her,

“Steals clothes from her father”

They tell him no,

That he’s a fool

But binders aren’t just for school

 

He’s just a boy in a dress

He doesn’t know

Why his own body doesn’t feel like home

He’s just a boy in a dress

Patience wearing thin

He wants to unzip and shed his skin

 

They send the boy to see a shrink

She asks him what he thinks

He says he wants to die

She asks him why

Can’t see the pain that lives inside

He shakes from the medication

They give him for his debilitating

Disease

But they can’t see

The only thing wrong with him lies in his family tree

 

He’s just a boy in a dress

Always told he’s wrong

He says it’s too hard to keep singing this song

Oh, little boy in a dress

Tell me you’ll stay strong

Someday they’ll see this was you all along

 

He decides

He’ll defy gravity tonight

He flies

Away from the fight

He takes his place

Tears on his face

He’s lost this race

It’s not fair

He walks up the stairs

And then kicks the chair

And suddenly

He’s floating in midair

 

He was a boy in a dress

They stand around his grave

Oh, my darling, you fought

Yes, you were so brave

He was a boy in a dress

And now he’s gone

But doesn’t it break your heart

To know he’s not

The only one?