Story: The Parking Space
Verse 1
Someone took the parking place
beneath the old shade tree
a piece of road without a name
became a theft from me
the heat rose through the chest and face
the hands prepared to fight
before I knew the driver
I had proved that I was right
I saw the confrontation
I heard him laugh and say
“You do not own the street, old man,
so go and drive away”
the scene had not yet happened
but the body knew defeat
and anger put its armour on
before we had to meet
Chorus
Underneath the anger
there’s a place that feels too small
a fear of being powerless
a back against the wall
underneath the anger
there’s a story dressed to fight
saying, “If I do not make you lose,
then I cannot be all right”
But if the armour opens
if the hidden truth can show
the enemy becomes a man
with somewhere else to go
underneath the anger
under every need to win
there may be something frightened
asking to be let in
Verse 2
He came and knocked upon the door
with plaster on his sleeve
said, “Baby kept us up all night,
I’ll only briefly leave
the van beneath the jacaranda,
then I’ll move it down the street”
and suddenly the villain
was a father on his feet
The road became a road again
the kingdom lost its claim
the white van was a white van
not an insult with my name
the body had remembered
every time it had been small
and brought a war to meet a man
who had not fought at all
Chorus
Underneath the anger
there’s a place that feels too small
a fear of being powerless
a back against the wall
underneath the anger
there’s a story dressed to fight
saying, “If I do not make you lose,
then I cannot be all right”
But if the armour opens
if the hidden truth can show
the enemy becomes a man
with somewhere else to go
underneath the anger
under every need to win
there may be something frightened
asking to be let in
Bridge
Once beside a roundabout
two strangers left their cars
each carrying a private storm
beneath imagined scars
the voices rose, the fists drew tight
the road became a stage
two frightened men stood face to face
and called the feeling rage
Then one said, “I have had no sleep,
I’m not myself today”
the other dropped his shoulders
and the battle fell away
“My wife walked out last evening.
I don’t know where to go.”
The warriors disappeared then
when the human truth could show
Verse 3
Anger says, “You caused this.”
Anger says, “I know.”
Anger makes a narrow road
with nowhere else to go
but hurt may sit beneath it
and helplessness may burn
and grief may wear a hardened face
until the face can turn
This does not mean stay silent
when a boundary must be drawn
it does not mean let danger pass
or smile and carry on
it means the fire has something
it is trying not to feel
and sometimes naming what is there
lets something human heal
Final Chorus
Underneath the anger
there’s a place that feels too small
a fear of being powerless
a back against the wall
underneath the anger
there’s a story dressed to fight
saying, “If I do not make you lose,
then I cannot be all right”
But if the armour opens
if the hidden truth can show
the enemy becomes a life
we never got to know
underneath the anger
under every need to win
there may be someone frightened
and another frightened friend
Outro
A parking place
a sleepless night
a marriage gone
a roadside fight
The body flares
the stories start
then one true sentence
opens the heart
Underneath the anger
underneath the blame
two conditioned human lives
without an enemy’s name
