One Thought At A Time
Oh, love —
Let every touch be love,
And may the very light that brushes eyes
Call out your name —
Oh, love —
I’ve felt you in the dark,
The hope that whispers comfort when
The night is filled with shame.
The emblem, and the meaningless,
The symptom, and the curse,
The absent, and the manifest,
The chapter, and the verse —
Oh, love —
I want to know your heart,
And feel you pulsing there,
Beneath my skin —
Oh, love —
There is no other way:
For all of us must end where we
Begin
He knew the game; the game knew him as well;
While she – she wrote the book on all of this.
The things that each had seen, they’d never tell;
The untold fantasies beyond the kiss —
This was to be another in a line
Of many nights that each of them had known.
The early parts were boilerplate, just fine;
When each stepped far into a danger zone
For love, forbidden thing, that ancient shame,
Began to work its way into those two:
You masters think you’ve learned to play the game;
But always, in the end, the game plays you
she’s dressed up for a date
and wearing, pretty much, her heart;
a nervousness like none she’s
ever felt
then he arrives and sees her,
he’s got flowers in his hands,
she smiles, and her heart
and mine
both melt
A single cloud is in a sky
That otherwise is clear;
A single thought is in my mind,
And that has brought me here —
So much is urgent, all the time;
To earn for earning’s sake —
But times & ways I find for you
Are *the* best things I make.
So let me never leave unwatched
The roses that we’ve planted,
Nor let me wander off the track,
Or take your love for granted —
For years and minutes are a gift,
And I want you to see
That times & ways that I’m with you
Mean everything
To me
Then music gave me walls when there
Was no place left to hide,
And lyrics made me you, so I
Could lay down by your side,
We danced there in my silver dream,
And joy was running free —
For music gave me hope when there
Seemed no hope left for me.
There was a bitter time when I
Felt ringed in with despair,
Exposed to all the elements
And bowed beneath my care,
An open sort of laughter rang
Of onlookers’ derision,
As second- and third-guessed I was
For ever damned decision
Then music made me walls when there
Was no place left to hide,
And lyrics made me you, so you
Would be there, by my side,
We danced there in my silver dream,
And joy was running free —
For music gave me hope when there
Seemed no hope left for me.
I knew one day I’d know you, I
Had met you in a song,
The twisting roads of loneliness
Had stretched on for so long,
And all the earthly signs had said
“Go back. You had your chance.”
That dreams were made for other heads,
By fate, or happenstance —
Then music gave me walls when there
Was no place left to hide,
And lyrics made me you, so I
Could lay down by your side,
We dance now in a silver dream,
And joy keeps running free —
For you’re the music of my hope
My life’s best melody
For you’re the music of my hope,
My life’s best melody
Love selflessly and you will pay the price
of what it is to give and not receive –
the heart of flame, returned with touch of ice;
a soul encumbered, longing to believe;
the joy that is, at once, a call to grieve
within the emptiness of letting go —
but love is worth it, worth it, even so.
Love selflessly, and time will halt its course
and lay upon your mind the universe;
at every turn to press with so much force
that feels a maledictive sort of curse –
a swirling mist the heart cannot disperse
that magnifies what we’d least like to show —
but love is worth it, worth it, even so.
There’ll be an ebb, of course, with every flow:
but love is worth it, worth it, even so.
Where, ever, love goes wrong:
It chases long
What’s never moved at all
