Kissing Catfish

She lives in a one-room kingdom

Second floor above the laundromat glow

Cheap perfume and cigarette curtains

Watching fairytales through cracked phone glass alone

Every night at midnight hour

Blue light shining on her face

She swipes through castles made of filters

Looking for somebody safe

She says, “Maybe real love don’t happen

For girls covered up in ash”

So she paints her lips and opens apps

Like throwing prayers into the dark

And every stranger sounds like heaven

For about three days

Till the cracks come through the picture

And the magic melts away

She keeps kissing catfish

Trying to turn one into a prince

Trading lonely midnight secrets

For forever that don’t exist

Every silver-tongued Romeo

Says she’s all he’ll ever need

Till there’s rent due, or some emergency

And suddenly love costs money

Oh, pauvre Cendrillon…

She speaks French like an angel sings

But she keeps kissing catfish

Thinking one might be her king

One said he was working offshore

Couldn’t video ‘cause the signal died

One was some rich man in Chicago

With movie-star promises in his eyes

Another called her “ma chérie”

Said her voice could heal his scars

He sent her pictures stolen from a stranger

And dreams stolen from her heart

She gives pieces of herself slowly

Like coins into a wishing well

Hoping one day somebody honest

Might finally call and mean it for real

But every castle made of pixels

Turns back into dust

And every “baby, you’re my future”

Ends with “I just need some help from us…”

She keeps kissing catfish

Trying to turn one into a prince

Trading lonely midnight secrets

For forever that don’t exist

Every silver-tongued Romeo

Swears he’s heaven-sent

Till the fairy tale gets hungry

And asks where all her money went

Oh, pauvre Cendrillon…

With tears running black like rain

Still kissing catfish

Just to feel loved for a day

Maybe somewhere there’s a real man

Who’d hold her ash-covered hands

Without needing magic

Without needing gold

Without making loneliness pay

But tonight another profile’s glowing

And she’s too tired to fight hope again

So she keeps kissing catfish

Watching princes disappear

Every “love forever” fading

The second her pockets clear

Still she whispers “maybe this one…”

Every time her phone lights up

Like Cinderella at midnight

Still believing in love

Oh, pauvre Cendrillon…

The saddest girl you’ll never see

Speaking French like an angel

To ghosts behind a screen

Yeah she keeps kissing catfish

Trying to love her way through pain

But every prince turns back to strangers

By the morning again