Little Miss Three-Across-on-the-Sidewalk

Lyrics

[Intro]

Little Miss Three-Across, you and your shadows on Elm Street.

[Verse 1]
July 14th, 2023, 5:15 PM, the sidewalk by the old bookstore.
Emma on your left, Sarah on your right, Jess linking arms like a chain.
You laugh about that barista at Cafe Luna, his awkward pour-over spill.
Feet shuffle slow, Converse sneakers scraping concrete cracks from 1987.
The man with the brown leather briefcase, Mr. Harlan from apartment 4B,
He veers into the hydrant painted red last spring.
You don't see him, your bubble sealed with iced lattes from paper cups.

[Chorus]
Oh, sidewalk, you narrow vein of the city,
Carrying us all, but you block it like a dam of denim jeans and canvas bags.
Refusing to single-file, your laughter a wall no one can climb.
I whisper to you, Little Miss, from the curb's edge,
Feel the press of strangers' shoulders, the sigh of the woman with the stroller.

[Verse 2]
Remember that time on Maple Avenue, near the park bench dedicated to Eliza Thorne in 2005?
Your group spread like spilled coffee, dark roast from the corner vendor.
The delivery boy on his rusty bike, bells ringing futile warnings,
Swerves into pothole number three, the one the city promised to fix last election.
You chat about Sarah's new tattoo, a sparrow inked on June 3rd at Inkwell Studio.
No glance back, no sorry slipped from lips glossed with Burt's Bees balm.

[Bridge]
Little Miss, address this concrete under your soles,
It's not yours alone, this gray ribbon tying us together.
Why the refusal, the linked elbows like a fortress gate?
One step aside, and the world flows again.

[Verse 3]
Now on this block, between the lamppost tagged with faded stickers from 2019 protests,
And the fire hydrant where dogs like Buster pause every morning at 7:42.
Your pace a crawl, stories unfolding like the newspaper Mr. Harlan drops.
He mutters under his breath, adjusts his tie bought at Macy's sale last Black Friday.
You three, a moving mural, oblivious to the detour you force.

[Chorus]
Oh, sidewalk, forgive her occupation,
Her friends' footsteps claiming more than their share.
I speak close, like to a lover's ear,
Little Miss, hear the city's quiet plea.

[Outro]
Step aside, just once, feel the rush.
Little Miss Three-Across, the roadblock melts.