Subject: 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)

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

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)

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...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...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...hoo...hoo...just two--

COPYRIGHT

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