Story: Before the Word Love
Verse 1
I brought you all the photographs
and named the names again
the beach, the house, the Christmas tree
the faces way back when
I asked the empty question
I never dared to say:
Do you still know who I am
if memory falls away?
You smiled at every picture
as politely as you could
I tried to rebuild yesterday
because I thought I should
but every word I handed you
fell gently from above
until there was a silence there
before the word love
Chorus
Before the word love
before yours and mine
before the names and memories
before the story line
one hand inside another
one breath, one little touch
nothing there explaining
and nothing needing much
Before the word love
before we call it true
there may be only tenderness
with no one sending it to you
Verse 2
One Wednesday I had nothing left
no photograph or plan
I sat beside your window
and simply held your hand
you did not call me son that day
you didn’t speak my name
and strangely something opened
when I stopped asking you to remain
A trolley down the hallway
a bird outside the glass
the rise and fall of breathing
without a future or a past
your fingers closed around mine
and suddenly enough
was everything that happened there
before the word love
Chorus
Before the word love
before yours and mine
before the names and memories
before the story line
one hand inside another
one breath, one little touch
nothing there explaining
and nothing needing much
Before the word love
before we call it true
there may be only tenderness
with no one sending it to you
Verse 3
We sat beneath the old tree
and talked of what love means
attachment and compassion
and everything between
we split it into pieces
until the pieces blurred
then Bracken crossed the circle
without a single word
He laid his head on Clara
she scratched behind his ears
the room we’d built from language
disappeared for several years
no theory passed between them
no doctrine from above
just leaning into leaning
before the word love
Bridge
We think the word contains it
the way a jar holds rain
but language draws a border
around what won’t remain
we write the label “ocean”
and nail it to the shore
then wonder why four letters
cannot tell us anything more
Mother
lover
daughter
friend
beginning
middle
end
Maybe every name is useful
until the naming’s done
and warmth is simply warmth
beneath the evening sun
Verse 4
One day you barely looked at me
your world had travelled far
I sat beside you quietly
and watched the afternoon grow dark
the thought appeared:
She doesn’t know me.
and grief moved through the chest
then your hand turned beneath my hand
and everything could rest
Maybe you remembered
maybe nothing came to mind
maybe love does not require
the stories left behind
I didn’t need an answer
you didn’t need one too
there was only holding
before me and before you
Final Chorus
Before the word love
before yours and mine
before the names and memories
before the story line
one hand inside another
one breath, one little touch
nothing there explaining
and nothing needing much
Before the word love
before the story starts
there may be something wordless
we keep dividing into hearts
Before the word love
before we make it mean
there’s warmth
there’s breath
there’s holding
and whatever this has been
Outro
No need to name it
no need to prove
no one deciding
how love should move
Just hand in hand
and breath enough
this—
before the word
love.
