the reason

and I hope to spend
many more hours
making you laugh.
your smile
makes me glad.
I want to be
the reason.

The Practice of Goodbye

Goodbye. The sharp heat of the word
Stings my waiting lips.
The loud silence of the turned back
Rings in my searching mind.
The dreadful still in the space once occupied.
This empty heart. These empty arms.

Ridiculous I may be but
I am surprised to discover
Goodbye, excruiating and cruel,
Is so common as to be mundane.
Like speech or step, well-practiced,
Universally enacted.

Again and again we say
Goodbye to one another.
Again and again we
Part from one another
In body or in spirit,
Deserters and abandoners, all.

How did I not know this?
How am I so unprepared?
So long I have practiced my hello.
So long I have widened
The space in my heart, the breadth of my arms.
I have no talent for goodbye.

Though I am not anxious to learn
This painful art of goodbye
We, none of us, escape
So, I will learn my lesson well
In the hope that there will be
No need for further practice.

Teddy

No Bad News

Don't bring me bad news,
No bad news,
I don't need none of your bad news today.
You're a sad little boy,
Anyone can see
You're just a sad little boy
That's why you're carrying on that way.
Why don't you burn it all down,
Burn your own house down,
Burn your own house down,
Try to kill your own disease.
And leave the rest of us,
There's a lot of us,
Leave the rest of us,
Who wanna live in peace to live in peace.

I'm gonna find me a man,
Love him so well,
Love him so strong,
Love him so slow,
We're gonna go way beyond the walls of this fortress.
And we won't be afraid,
We won't be afraid,
And though the darkness may come our way,
We won't be afraid to be alive anymore.
And we'll grow kindness in our hearts
For all the strangers among us
Till there are no strangers anymore.

Don't bring me bad news,
No bad news,
I don't need none of your bad news today.
You can have my fear,
I've got nothing to lose,
Can have my fear,
I'm not getting out of here alive anyway.
And I don't need none of these things,
I don't need none of these things
I've been handed.
And the bird of peace is flying over,
She's flying over and
Coming in for a landing.

By: Patty Griffin

How Much

I'm doing fine
I'm a very lucky girl
And I'm grateful for everything I have
But every once in a while,
In a quiet moment, I remember
Just how much I loved you.

Hero