Author's Notes: This is a ballad that I wrote when I was feeling a little down in the dumps not long after reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It's directed toward the Tin Woodman when he was on his first journey with Dorothy to the Emerald City.

Disclaimer: Anything found here that belongs to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the work of L. Frank Baum, not me.

Tin Woodman

Tin Woodman, don't do it.

Don't ask Oz for a heart.

It's not worth the pain,

Of breaking it apart.

Tin Woodman, listen to me.

Not everyone is true,

And nothing, no one,

Lasts forever with you.

A heart of gold is a fragile thing.

Such a tender little metal,

That tin can break with ease

And can easily dent and meddle.

So Tin Woodman, don't do it.

Stay forever heartless,

Because only the heartless,

Are among the painless.

Lost can be loved ones,

Lost can be trust,

Lost can be honesty,

Lost can be lust.

And when something is lost,

The heart is slow to heal,

If it heals at all,

And the pain is real.

Pretty Munchkin girl,

She may not always love you.

She may lie to you.

She may fight with you.

Or she may love you forever,

But she may die soon, Woodman.

She will die someday.

And you never will, Tin Woodman.

So don't go to Oz,

That wonderful, terrible Oz,

To ask him for heart,

With your simple clause.

Because it will bleed,

When it is injured,

Because no heart is unscarred,

No heart unhindered.

Tin Woodman, don't do it.

Don't ask Oz for a heart.

It's not worth the pain,

Of breaking it apart.

Tin Woodman, listen to me.

Not everyone is true,

And nothing, no one,

Lasts forever with you.