I went to the doctor with a question on my mind the other night, but when I asked he said "Girl, you'd better go and find someone else. I'm not a specialist of that kind." And when the doctor couldn't help I went to the mechanic and said "I'm broken inside." But he said "M'am I guess I don't understand. I'm only a man. I make machines work when I can."When I can Then up stepped the scientist, said "Let me try at this. I specialize in answering questions when no one can explain." So I sighed and asked him "Why do I feel this way?" He said "Emotions are just chemicals in your brain, and chemical's decay after a moment in a test tray. And everything has a brief moment when it flourishes before it starts to die - It's called a half-life. Now if you squint very carefully with your eye you'll see the process by which everybody tries to survive. But the rules of science are swift and true, and nobody can undo them as hard as they try." As hard as they try And the isotopes under the microscope Taught me everything I'll ever need to know Except how to let go There's a butterfly with it's wing torn off crawling 'round in the dirt Through the greenhouse of my thoughts And when the little girl cries to see it that way Her momma says "Butterflies only live two weeks anyway." Her half-life came five days ago While she was in the sun making love by the window For all we know... For all we know She might have been destined to die alone There's a sullen girl in a world apart Writing poems with a pencil on the white walls in the dark She says "I know my weapon's just a harmless tool." But still the brilliant fool who bound the tree to the charcoal Never knew what it would do Her half-life came about an hour ago While she was on her knees saying prayers to the radio But the song she wanted to hear did not exist And with her angry fists she couldn't write the words to make it whole Half-life, what a lovely decay of words And all the doctors enter the room with their pills and their cures But nature takes what nature wants to keep For all we know... For all we know tonight I might just sleep