where words fail, music speaks *

“changer” by anais mitchell

If I can’t keep it,
at least let me call it by name.
That was called falling, this is called pain,
it’s called love, what I’m losing.
I know love is a stranger,
I know that changes come,
I know love is a changer.

I’m gonna go quietly,
you dont have to tell me to.
Just let me lie a little longer next to you.
Not tryin’ to bother you,
I’m just tryin’ to breathe you in,
and then I will leave you there
where you are sleeping.

Speaking of loving you, I do.
I’m telling you stranger to stranger.
Whatever changes come to you,
i’m telling you changer to changer.

Worn in or stolen, your shadow from me,
but I hold its shape in my mind,
the shape of your back when you turned it on me, one last time.

And out in the waking world,
nobody understands exactly how light it is,
exactly how free I am.
One minute I’m laughing, and the next one I’m lost.
I’m watching the birds fly by, watching the highways cross.

Speaking of loving you, I do.
telling you stranger to stranger.
Whatever changes come to you,
I’m telling you changer to changer.

If I can’t keep it,
at least let me call it by name.