Thus I Wrote

Later that night
I remember it well
You came to my room
In the St James Hotel

And so began my quest
To make you mine
With flowers and jewels
With laughter and wine

We were sky and earth
We were wind and sea
But we fitted each other
Like a lock and key

I gave you protection
I gave you children and a home
And enough love to fill
The space in your soul

So we agreed to join
As we surfed our wave
And we both felt valued
For the love we both gave

I caught a butterfly
In the summer sun
The trust was high
That no hurt be done
But now there’s no butterfly
In the winter sun
The trust has died
And the damage done

The wheels of life
Do grind and turn
Fuelled by fires
That heat and burn
But things get crushed
And things get lost
And fragile beauty pushed
To pay the cost

Once we heard the dawn sing in tune
We swam the sun-drenched sea in June
Chased laughing children in the park
And caressed by candlelight in the dark

Our pasts pulled
Our fractures wide
Our hearts hardened
Over the hurt inside
But now we’re adrift
A dark ocean swell
And loved features shift
Into a distance shell

Once we heard the dawn sing in tune
We swam the sun-drenched sea in June
Chased laughing children in the park
And caressed by candlelight in the dark

The lines are all drawn
And positions taken
It’s arguments at dawn
And we are forsaken
I think about giving and taking
And how she takes too much
But I’ve got a treacherous feeling
That I ain’t loved her enough

Will our differences exchange
For the complement we seek?
I know love requires change
And turning the other cheek
Will she do some kneeling?
And her share of the rough?
But I’ve got a treacherous feeling
That I ain’t loved her enough

Why do we seek control?
Is it a security thing?
We could destroy the whole
Of what we’re trying to win
A lost battle has me reeling
Did I shoot the wrong stuff?
But I’ve got a treacherous feeling
That I ain’t loved her enough

So give of your love
And it shall be given to you
It’s more blessed to give
Than to receive it too
Such a love sounds healing
And ours a childish bluff
I’ve got a treacherous feeling
That I ain’t loved her enough

Picture: Bella by Lucien Freud

Sleep, it would not come
In our yesterday’s room
I rocked myself ’till numb
To dispel my growing gloom
I thought, we are older now
But her beauty it still lingers
This relationship is slipping
Slipping through my fingers

Has she moved on
Past the point of no return?
I feel discarded and lonely
Frozen, as her memory burns
Phantom suitors hurt me
With the flowers they bring her
This relationship is slipping
Slipping through my fingers

She’s riding a pale horse
Of resentment and emotion
She’s deaf to my words
Impervious to my devotion
I wish I could hear her sigh again
As I make her nerve ends tingle
This relationship is slipping
Slipping through my fingers

I let our problems be
I was hoping for the second act
But she would not forgive me
And her love began to crack
Her heart it hardened
From the love she said I didn’t bring her
This relationship is slipping
Slipping through my fingers

She harbours resentment
I feel it as it stifles her kiss
She harbours resentment
She feels there’s so much I’ve missed
She harbours resentment
I try to reach her but she resists

It started so well
How could we foretell
We made plans & lists
But they didn’t include this
Our differences in time
Became a chasm wide
What’s mine to confess
I now ask forgiveness

She harbours resentment
I feel it as it stifles her embrace
She harbours resentment
I see the wariness in her face
She harbours resentment
She needed more love and she needed more grace

I remember her touch
When she loved me so much
We talked every night
And our dreams shone so bright
Now there’s silence and hurt
Forgotten value and worth
What’s mine to confess
I now ask forgiveness

She harbours resentment
I feel it as it stifles her love
She harbours resentment
Now whatever I do its never enough
She harbours resentment
I’m between the rock below and the hard place above

Her happiness
Was always my quest
And it’s a haunted mess
That I’ve failed that test
I wish our kingdom
Had more time to come
But what’s mine to confess
I now ask forgiveness

 

I raised my voice, when I should have not
I looked at you, while thinking wrong thoughts
I drank too much, and disguised by mirth
Said careless words, and you, got hurt

After we argue, I often shut you out
I waited to calm down, I wouldn’t trust my mouth
I made a silence & I wouldn’t let it go
I made you lonely, and I wish, it wasn’t so.

I spend too much time, living inside my head
It makes me negative, and aloof, you said
I need more heart, and I need more fun
I feed the elephant, when I, should make it run

My emotions they are dark, too dark to read
They swirl, they rise up, when it’s calmness I need
They lash out when things don’t go my way
My wise counsel, is drowned, inside my head.

I’ve seen a love, as warm as the sun
It touched the heart and the soul of everyone
A graceful self that was clear to its shine
An inspiration, I keep always, in my mind

I know I’m blind so I can’t see
That I’m a prisoner so I’m not free
I know a change now must surely come
That if I conquer, myself, I will be done

Can we fix this?
Or is it too late?
Is your heart too wounded
Behind your locked gate?
I’ve tried in my way
To open my heart to you
Will you do unto me
As you would have me do unto you?

I have walked in your shoes
To study your fears
I’ve learned from wise men
And my mistakes down the years
To sing together
I’ve often played to your tune
Will you do unto me
As you would have me do unto you?

Now I have many colours
Not just black or white
Sometimes I’ve strayed into the dark
But I strive for the light
I would forgive you
A mistake or two
Will you do unto me
As you would have me do unto you?

The seeds that were sown
So they shaped our hearts
And in that tangle that was grown
So it shaped our start
I would not ask you
For more than you could do
Will you do unto me
As you would have me do unto you?

I was more of the head
And you of the heart
We should be stronger together
Than we are apart
I would accept
You have a different view
Will you do unto me
As you would have me do unto you?

She stands in the shade, cos the sun’s too hot
She don’t like history, she won’t be taught
She likes to buy things that are beautiful and bright
She’s the dark in my day and the light in my night.

I’m drugged by her beauty, nature’s secret sauce
I want dessert but she’s still on the main course
She wants conversation and my latest insight
She’s the dark in my day and the light in my night.

Her wild horses I can’t rein in
She’s always certain and she don’t do sin
I want to make her happy, but often we fight
She’s the dark in my day and the light in my night.

She lives to laugh and she revels in her time,
Her love a wide ocean and her hurt a deep mine
She’s closer to God than ever I might
She’s the dark in my day and the light in my night.

I was alone
She had three
We came to battle
To divide and be free
I was well prepared
I knew all the law
My case was just
But with a hidden flaw

I looked from this end
To our loving start
Then a tide washed over me
And I fell apart

He took it all down
Brick by brick
Stone by stone
And stick by stick
He laid it all out
Who gave what to whom
I gave a better split
In that functional room

Because I looked from this end
To our loving start
Then a tide washed over me
And I fell apart

It died on the vine
Our joined family
Blown away by the force
Of factional uncertainty
When I held my line
And I didn’t concede
She withdrew from me
To punish my deed

I looked from this end
To our loving start
Then a tide washed over me
And I fell apart

There is a pain
Worse than a knife
It uses my head
It runs my life
It is a desert
A loneliness deep
I long for a quest
And a dreamless sleep

I looked from this end
To our loving start
Then a tide washed over me
And I fell apart

I had a choice when I raised my voice
I forgot I loved you
I was in my head, Too aloof you said
I forgot I loved you

You couldn’t predict, the actions I picked
You thought I didn’t love you
We disagreed, we wouldn’t concede
You thought I didn’t love you

In the mirror I see, a change in me
Dorian Gray
In the dark I chase, the love I misplaced
Dorian Gray

I was not true, I was hidden from view
I forgot I loved you
I kept my options open, but your trust was broken
I forgot I loved you

You thought the worst, that you didn’t come first
You thought I didn’t love you
You read the signs, I didn’t know were mine
You thought I didn’t love you

In the mirror I see, a change in me
Dorian Gray
In the dark I chase, the love I misplaced
Dorian Gray

I didn’t smile, for too long a while
I forgot I loved you
I didn’t tell you all, so you built a wall’
I forgot I loved you

You cry and begin, to count all my sins
You thought I didn’t love you
You cast the last stone, you want me to atone
You thought I didn’t love you

You crossed the line, you took what was mine
I thought you didn’t love me
Your words cut deep, you said its what I reap
I thought you didn’t love me

In the mirror I see, a change in me
Dorian Gray
In the dark I chase, the love I misplaced
Dorian Gray