Got it Right

Yesterday, I saw a couple
and it was so clear they had it wrong
It reminded me of when you said
you hear lovers talking
and they're always so tense and upset,
but how we never feel that
We're only overjoyed,
smiling as fools do, and so content
just to know it hasn't changed
Truly your voice is all it takes
to make my stomach an echo chamber
And to see you, its almost too much,
so these days I have to breathe deeply
just to feign a degree of composure
I was worried that might fade,
but in the absence it's only intensified
So cast down your disquieted looks,
because you're all experts
and you know I'm simply blinded
If I am, then I guess I beg to be, because
I can't help but know we've got it right

Damn

Damn, I wish I knew
just how to make it happen
It's really all I've thought about
since I saw your face last night,
when you shed one for us
Really can't fight it,
because I'm honest, and
I just want to feel it all the time
It's so pure it must be true
Don't you feel it too?
Yeah, it's crazy
I know that's the case,
but I'm so inspired,
and even so, I have no list
No regrets to haunt me,
and if I let this go,
that'll be a lie
So now I'm thinking so silly
as I tend to do,
mostly because I miss you
and I know you miss me too

Examples Not to Follow

Sometimes I hear your voice
and always it's guiding
Emphasizing alternatives
Warning not to fall
into the groove they carved
I hear it too
Really, I promise, I do
We're always so worried
we'll end up like them
and I think we both know
some aspects are inevitable
But truly we're different
At least, I'd like to believe it
We've seen more
than they cared to look for
I just tell myself
that they're examples
not to follow
and that hasn't led me astray
I'm still intent on making it
in ways they never did
So don't worry
I won't let you down
I just can't

Advantages

Ever since I realized them
for what they are
I've hated advantages
Been caught maiming more than once
just because I knew I had one
Never felt good about that
And I knew you had one over me
right from the start
but I was already headlong,
even before the beginning,
and the momentum was too great

Truth be told
I think about you now
Probably more than I'd like to admit,
but I do like thoughts of you
and for that,
I've concluded I'm not ashamed
because I'm not like the rest
I won't be rendered pathetic
Will not grant the advantage,
and given time,
I'll surprise

Something Said

Knowing the destination's ugly
and setting forth regardless
There's something to be said for that
Despite our cynicism,
we're a species so optimistic,
almost universally, in that regard
We're so enamored with the notion
that a love lost, is better than none,
and I'm not sure about you,
but I wouldn't count myself excepted
Although I might conclude
nothing's ever really lost
The truth of it is blatant
We saw the end of this path at the outset
and we knew it meant a dead end for me,
but let it be known, I wouldn't trade it
Even now, there's a smile upon my face
Yeah, this was predictable,
just as the rising moon
I'd say no less beautiful
And babe, if you see this,
don't mistake it for farewell,
because the sun also rises
There's something to be said for that

Stripping the Screw

When it came to those subjects
you never crafted a need
for reading in between the lines
I guess you just decided
that subtlety is only worse,
and I'll be the first to agree
It's better to suppress it
than to let it mature
and become a foe, right?
I'll let the wise man
answer that question,
because we both know too well,
we're not quite there yet
In the meantime,
a suggestion, though,
I hope you can make use of it
A little eloquence
could do to drive it home
without stripping the screw

Bull-Headed

His attempts at optimism
always in the guise of cliches,
and therefore, never very useful
It was just too effortless
to mistake emotions and pain,
for the reality of the world
It was just too obvious
to dismiss his created world
as out of his control
Still, in an underlying current
he knew the reigns were his
He'd always remember that
if he gave it much thought
But it didn't sway him
Always stubborn, to absurdity
He liked the euphemism: faithful,
but truly it was bull-headed
Tragically self-destructive
Once his jaws were clamped
you'd have to kill him,
and worse still, he knew it
Wouldn't change, either,
because it had been his salvation
It was that same resolve
that pulled him through the eye
and back around, over and over
It was his own invincibility
and he wondered sometimes
if he could break at all
He knew it to be true,
the first time he saw her

Residual

This morning I recalled your face
in a setting I'd taken for granted
You, peering through the glass at me,
hands overwhelmed with coffee and pastries
Your gifts in the morning
Then how I'd look over to see you
waiting patiently for me
with the warmest smile I'd ever known
It was enough to make me forget
how much that place burdened me,
because with you I was empowered
And even now,
though sometimes I worry
the distance leaves me powerless,
the residual remains ensure
I can't be swayed