I'm a tangled puppet, spinning round in knots And the more I see what used to be, the less of you I've got There was a time that you curled up in my lap like a child You'd cling to me smiling, your eyes wide and wild Now you slip through my arms, wave a passing hello Twist away and toss a kiss, laughing as you go You used to say, read me a story and sing me songs of love Before you were princess paradise on the wings of a dove Now I chase you and tease you, trying to remake you my own But you just turn away and say, please leave me alone And I'm a tangled puppet, all hanging in your strings I'm a butterfly in a spy's web, fluttering my wings And the more that I keep dancing and spinning round in knots The more I see what used to be and the less of you I've got You are a drawer full of makeup and princess of things You keep changing your moods like your earrings and rings But tonight while we play tag for five minutes in the yard Just for a moment I caught you off guard And I'm a tangled puppet, all hanging in your strings I'm a butterfly in a spy's web, fluttering my wings And the more that I keep dancing and spinning round in knots The more I see what used to be and the less of you I've got Now you write your secret poems in a room just for your dreams You don't find time to talk to me about the things you mean But I mean it I have watched you take shape from a jumble of parts And find the grace and form of a fine work of art Hey you, my brand new woman, newly coming to your own Don't you know that you don't need to grow up all alone?