You ripped me wide open
Wounded and curled
Broke the skin to let my joy spill out
Scarred my world
Like a permanent smile
Wrecked my idea of heaven
Threw open the blinds to let the light shine in
Said, To hell with what you think you know
You have no idea what you're doing
I'm going to teach you to dance

You put a finger on my lips
One hand on my hips
Leaned in and whispered
The music is inside you

I said, The world is too big to love
You said, Love it one bite at a time
I said, I don't know if I can die like this
You said, Close your eyes and let me break your fall
You'll be raised up if you'll just lie down
Sow your love into my fertile ground

I said, There was a time my brother built a tree house in the swamp
How did he do that with just some spare lumber and a hammer
There was a ladder that we climbed
And we sat and looked out into the summer sun
Together

My brother said, without saying a word,
Everything we need to know is right here
There is no other world
We'll never have more than we have right now

Maybe we glimpsed it all in that blurry Pennsylvania sunset

You said that's the kind of love I'm talking about
We can get it back
I can pull for you
And pour myself into your sleepy heart
Like black coffee
You'll wake up and there will be this aroma
Coming up the stairs
From the kitchen
You'll sit up and stretch your arms and think
I can do this

And the thing about this one is
I don't have an ending in mind

. . .

copyright 2001, Linford Detweiler