Published June 7, 2010

Seattle indie band The Green Pajamas has written a song for Phoebe Prince, the relentlessly bullied South Hadley High freshman whose agony ended in suicide earlier this year: “One January afternoon / They killed you in your school clothes / As sure as winter’s cruel hands /Clutch and kill the red, red rose.”

The Red, Red Rose

So, nevermore to see the sunrise
And nevermore the ocean wild
And not to taste the snow of morning
On the tongue of one so mild

And nevermore your eyes in laughter
That lately held but only tears
That lately gazed with only sorrow
Across a life of so few years

One January afternoon
They killed you in your school clothes
As sure as winter’s cruel hands
Clutch and kill the red, red rose

So, lost we are to ever hold you
Lost forever, thanks to those
Who built your gallows just as sure
As the first freeze kills the red, red rose

You can buy the song on the band’s MySpace page.