Love
WAR-TORN LOVE LIFE
Another night of planning
The perfect diplomatic stance
Fine-tuning the best approach
To give democracy a chance
Another tough press conference
Another talk with heads of state
Another late night meeting
Another truce to cultivate
So many questions from the press
So much ground you need to cover
I imagine you've rarely had
The chance to take a lover
pre-chorus:
And you're overwhelmed with honors
For "securing peace in our time"
But your record when it comes to love
Is as dark as any war crime
Dark as any war crime
chorus:
Lost in a thousand yard stare
Never to be a wife
Choking on the smoke plumed air
Of a war-torn love life
Quick flight into Moscow
For the latest round of talks
High drama at the summit
When the Afgan delegate walks
Another long press conference
Then it's off to catch a flight
Debriefed on the plane ride
To arrive in the dead of night
So many conflicts to diffuse
So many embassies to phone
All these envoys bidding for time
Make you hard to catch alone
(pre-chorus)
(chorus)
News flash from the Balkans
Of the violently oppressed
Quick close to the Q & A
Another point left unaddressed
Another rough draft to review
Another statement to refine
One more point to clarify
But you're always pressed for time
So many fires to put out
Can really push a person's sanity
Overrun and slice you up
Like some two-bit principality
(pre-chorus)
(chorus)
ONLINE SUNSHINE
Some days should be shut down
Before they even boot up
Held by the scruff of the neck
Like a feisty newborn pup
Images cropped to wound the heart
Tweets to hurt the head
A love in danger of deletion
Like a what-the-fuck? forum thread
Such an online
Ray of sunshine
chorus 1:
Doesn't matter who you are or method of transmission
No one has to take your shit or digital derision
You can text it, you can phone it, you can fling it online
Over wifi, over 5G, in a fucking FaceTime
You're still not getting through
Sunshine
Try to have a digital life
On this or that social site
Keep a low profile so
A web of drama won't ignite
Click-bait for the hungry trolls
Out to have me for dessert
Every post erupts in flames
The whole site now on alert
Such an online
Ray of sunshine
(chorus 1)
breakdown: (crackled and whispered phoned message)
Login, upload
From home or road
My little smartphone warrior
It's digital euphoria
Delete, resend
It's half pretend
My little message courier
The lines are getting blurrier
chorus 2:
Doesn't matter who you are or method of transmission
No one has to take your shit or digital derision
You can text it, you can phone it, you can fling it online
Over wifi, over 5G, in a fucking FaceTime
You're still not getting through
Remember who you're talking to
You still got work to do
On you
Sunshine
Sunshine
Sunshine
Sunshine
THE UNIVERSE IS OUT TO FIX US UP
(In recognition of Adela Florence Nicolson)
Took my eyes off for a second
Lost you for another trillion years
One life grants me all my hopes
The next delivers all my fears
A glimpse of you on one world
Imprinted on my gaze
Your voice vibrates through lifetimes
Like echoes in a maze
A brief affair on a busy planet
Lifetime alone on the next
Two lost souls en route to where
Our existence redirects
Was I one of your many suitors
Rejected in your last life?
Did you, a ghostly face in the crowd,
Long in vain to be my wife?
chorus 1:
We can scorn each other
Squander sweeps of time
Taunt or toy with dreams -
Defying all design
We can dodge our destiny
Summon all our strength to let it be
We can sit content with our empty cup
But the Universe is out to fix us up
In one life we were close classmates
And we never even knew
The next life you were standing right there
To slip right past my view
Another time showed growing promise
But our tempers proved a wall
You reappeared not three lives later
With no eyes for me at all
Next we resumed it was love at first sight
On some cratered war-torn moon
But in the debris of a mushroom cloud
It was over much too soon
Are we the now divided souls
Of a long lost former romance?
Each life a quest to reunite
Against the twists of circumstance?
chorus 2:
We can mock the notion -
Deplore the prospect -
But the right lifetime
Our eyes connect
The floodgates of love are breached
The singularity of presence reached
A spirit can stir in the coldest cup
And the Universe is out to fix us up
bridge:
Off we go on our separate quests
Wherever our being manifests
Will our rocky roads collide?
Our deepest passions coincide?
breakdown:
From a quantity of atoms
Inhabiting deep space
Who knew such lonely stardust
Would one day form your face?
From a pattern of genetics
As complex as the weather
Who knew we would assemble
To stand here now together?
(chorus 1+2)
CHARGED PARTICLES
Pull up a chair
Outdoor French cafe
Gazette under arm
Merlot on the way
Try to relax
Browse a series of articles
I suddenly sense
A wave of charged particles
chorus 1:
Flashes of you
Charged particles - ricochet through
Tableau pour deux - Two ravenous hearts
Love on the menu
Window gazing
A second hand store
Familiar signage
"Please use other door"
Enter and browse
Rummage through the old articles
I suddenly see
A haze of charged particles
chorus 2:
Drawing my view
Charged particles - vignette in blue
So déjà vu - Strolling hand-in-hand
Moonlit avenue
bridge:
Like shadows of your long lost ghost
All the moments that I miss the most
Like Nature took a video
And trapped it in a moonbeam's glow
To play it back when the light is right
Your images so plague my sight
(chorus 1 + 2)
COPY & PASTE
I know of a virus
Our cliques have all contracted
And this generations'
So easily distracted
From selfie to selfie -
#infatuation -
A viral infection -
Dumb loves' memeification -
chorus:
Fate isn't a text you can copy & paste
And Life isn't trial & error to waste
Love isn't a page we just highlight and click
To copy & paste our dream relationship
We assemble our cast -
Actors hastily vetted -
Who leave the set early -
The role they regretted -
Over eager to click
With the randomest persons
Then savagely ghosted
When the link rots and worsens
chorus:
Our feeble contacts are often just as well
And sometimes our search yields a dead url
Love isn't a page we just highlight and click
To copy & paste our dream relationship
bridge:
Some limit their love lives to trial and error
Entrusting their choice to pure surface details
Blind-sided by pain when endorphins diminish
And searching for deeper connection fails
(chorus)
outro:
You can't copy & paste your love
I'm not one to trust trial & error
You don't want to go waste your love
I'm not one to believe in forever
You can't copy & paste your love...
NOTHING AGAINST YOU
One last look
Feel the weight of your presence
Love's dwindling remnants
When moments move on
It's your call
Far from my choice to challenge
You've made your decision
No hard feelings here
Nothing against you
Nothing against you ever again
Nothing against you
Nothing against you ever again
chorus:
Nothing against you but my skin
Your last spare atom of warmth seeping in
Nothing against you but my heart
Beat, beat, beating our worlds apart
It's your voice
Use it to your heart's content
I trust your assessment
Impartial but fair
Love will live
And I weather whatever storms
That summon deep waters
When summer is gone
Nothing against you
Nothing against you ever again
Nothing against you
Nothing against you ever again
(chorus)
bridge:
Perfection is something reserved for the gods
Failures are only a question of when
Nothing against your retreat from my arms
Nothing against you ever again
Nothing against you
Nothing against you ever again
Nothing against you
Nothing against you ever again
(chorus)
BREAKING BARRIERS
Some people would suffer first
Than admit they were dying of thirst
We don't always see
Stubbornness at its worst
Some people won't even aim
Let alone take a shot at love's game
They figure the prize
Isn't quite worth the pain
chorus:
Emotions cause harm
When they're bottled up inside
Do yourself some justice
And confess your love with pride
Emotions leave scars
Time alone will never heal
Do yourself a favor
And tell someone how you feel
Some people look upon love
As a gift they are unworthy of
Too perfect to match
Let alone rise above
Some people programmed to think
Love is bought with a diamond or mink
Too poor to get past
"Can I buy you a drink?"
Building barriers
Out of reason, out of fear
What motivates us
Even experts aren't clear
Breaking barriers
It's taking too much wine
To open up our hearts
And lay them on the line
OPPOSING FORCES
Opposites of equal force
Share a deadly magnetism
Allowed to run its course
It ends in cataclysm
Love in mathematical terms
Is an algebraic equation
A fatal formula
For mutual negation
chorus:
Don't mix matter with anti-matter
Don't add a minus with a plus
Whatever you do
Don't add the two
Don't cancel out the both of us
Elements of inverse state
Must be kept at a safe distance
Or suffer the same fate
A life of non-existence
Love in subatomic terms
Is two free and roaming nuclei
If their flight paths intersect
You can kiss them both goodbye
Like speeding trains
On a one-way track
We can't switch lanes
Until one day...
PARTY OF TWO
verse 1:
i see there is no stopping you
you're focused on the dirt
so I won't bail you out this time
it's you that's getting hurt
verse 2:
you're not concerned with the truth
you're quite content with a lie
it serves your purpose faithfully
there's no need to ask why
build 1:
i thought we could avoid
the coming cataclysm
but you always seem annoyed
by any criticism
chorus:
then you wanted me to show
for a little party of two
should have known how it would go
another evening down the drain
another romance all in vain
another party
another party left in pain
verse 3:
did you want some pick-up artist
with a seedy, wolf-like grin?
jaded by what comes out of your mouth
but intrigued by what goes in?
verse 4:
did you want some super hero
who never shows he's weak?
who unless his words convey contentment
you won't allow to speak?
build 2:
i thought we could diffuse
the time bomb's mechanism
but you always were amused
by acts of heroism
(chorus)
bridge:
and we'll never find the cause
for the conflicts we get in
when every time you're wrong
i'm supposed to let you win
TWO
verse 1:
Two... stand up better than one
Two... shine brighter than one sun
Two... can conquer seven seas
Two... open endless possibilities
chorus:
Two hoo...
Two hoo...
Two hoo...
Two...hoo...hoo...hoo..just two--
verse 2:
Two... traversing water and land
Two... leaving footprints in the sand
Two... running through the cold night
Two... sitting in the sunlight
chorus:
Two hoo...
Two hoo...
Two hoo...
Two...hoo...hoo...hoo...just two--
verse 3:
Two... waiting out the dark age
Two.. playing somewhere off stage
Two... laughing in the shadows
Two... leaving only echoes
chorus:
Two hoo...
Two hoo...
Two hoo...
Two...hoo...hoo...hoo...just two--
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