Fans who purchased a physical copy of Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department will find a nice surprise in the liner notes: a poem penned by Stevie Nicks. The prose acts as the album's prologue.
It's fitting that the album would begin with a poem from the Fleetwood Mac singer because the initial release ends with a song that references her (the pop star later released an extended version). In "Clara Bow" Swift sings: “You look like Stevie Nicks in ’75, the hair and lips/ The crowd goes wild at her fingertips/ Half moonshinе, a full eclipse.”
Nicks wrote the poem on August 13, 2023 in Austin, Texas. It's titled For T and Me. Read the full poem below:
He was in love with her
Or at least she thought so
She was brokenhearted
~Maybe he was too~
Neither of them knew.
She was way too hot to handle
He was way too high to try —
He couldn't even see her
He wouldn't open his eyes
She was on her way to the stars
He didn't say goodbye
She looked back from her future
And shed a few tears
He looked into his past
And actually felt fear.
For both of them
The answers ~ would never be ~
Ever clear —
Don't ask questions now
Do that later —
She brings joy
He brings Shakespeare —
It's almost a tragedy —
Says she "don't endanger me —
[Pause] Don't endanger me"
He really can't answer her
He's afraid of her —
He's hiding from her
And he knows that he's hurting her
She tells the truth
She writes about it
She's an informer
He's an x-lover
There's nothing there for her
She's already gone
There's nothing that can stop her —
She was just flying —
Thru the clouds ~
When he saw her...
She was just making her way —
To the stars ~
When he lost her...