When They Don't Believe Anymore
.
01/17/2008
by Tom Flannery
copyright 2007 (BMI)

Wide eyes are closing some
the truth is closing in
they found a box of presents
buried in a plastic bin
clearly marked "from Santa Claus"
could it be that they've been had?
and all these years St Nicholas
is really Mom and Dad?

Riddles from the last few years
would certainly fade away
if it was wal-mart and jc penney's
instead of reindeer and a sleigh
the hammering and the cursing
after rushing 'em off to bed
and that half-eaten cookie
and no sugar plums in the head

Could this be the year
when they don't believe anymore?
when they realize they've got no chimney
and double bolts on the door
when the letter to the north pole
arrives without a stamp
they bore into discrepancies
like an ultraviolet lamp 

It's like a Christmas without Elvis
or one without Charlie Brown
aluminum tree in the corner
when Santa don't come to town
but try catching a stone rolling downhill
and it'll leave you flat
a child no longer believing 
is life saying "take that"

But there's still life in the old bones
and a child deep in there
and a whole lotta gullibility
underneath this graying hair
I still hear the hooves on the rooftop
and the bells jingling in my ear
after I've laid the place out
and counted one more year

Could this be the year
when they don't believe anymore?
the magic snowball story
gets tucked away in the drawer
magic dust and reindeer
don't fly like they used to
they wanna see the evidence
or they're gonna drop the other shoe

Wide eyes are closing some
the truth is closing in
they found a box of presents
buried in a plastic bin
clearly marked "from Santa Claus"
could it be that they've been had?
and all these years St Nicholas
is really Mom and Dad?