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Old Songs

My thoughts often draw pictures of love for you

So today, I listen to a shuffle of old songs

Hoping nostalgia will change the tune,

And distract me from the longing in my heart

 

I want to write you a love song

With the heart-rending warmth of Joan Armatrading,

The edgy complexity of Joni Mitchell

And the sweetness of James Taylor

 

A song of fantastical love in a mundane setting

Sweet in the loving

Bitter in its failure

 

I wonder why I stay when I could leave

Like the choice between bathing in the light or sinking into darkness

Who wouldn’t choose the light?

But I'm clinging to the darkness all the same.

 

You know this pain, and make me face it.

Holding me while I learn to accept things as they are

To trust and value fear and loss

And sing songs to celebrate my own experience

 

It might take a long time but maybe, after dark we’ll be laughing.

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Written by
karen-alexander
English
Published
Sep 23, 2012
Lines·Words
20·161
Permission

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