Heart to Heart

Well, this started off as seeing eye to eye: the phrase and idiom. And thinking about lovers who don’t see eye to eye, well they would not see heart to heart, then.

And the lyrics grew from there, heart to heart being the requirement for true love and a lasting friendship.

And they grew from an almost vision I had in my very early teens, in my bed one light summer’s night, teetering between awake and asleep, and I had heard about love and what people said about being in it. And I, at that moment—I can still recall it vividly—imagined being in love, wholly and over heels, and in that moment I was, I felt all the deep swells that I later (in actual relationships) recognized as love, or, to be more precise, perhaps infatuation. Still, the feeling was amazing, and propelled me into soon-to-be manhood with a loving vengeance.

I wrote this song in stages. The first version was complete in 1996, and I actually recorded it semi-professionally, real studio and all, to a reasonably good result, I thought. A little too polished, but nonetheless.

In 2007 I added a pair of verses that seemed to complete the song.

Then I tinkered with it in 2010 and recorded it again then.

Now, in 2015 I polished it a little again, just a word or two here and there, just to be jolly happy with it. And so, this will (I’m pretty sure) be the final version.

Heart to Heart Well, this started off as seeing eye to eye: the phrase and idiom. And thinking about lovers who don't see eye to eye, well they would not see heart to heart, then. And the lyrics grew from there, heart to heart being the requirement for true love and a lasting friendship.

The Words:

Not quite awake and not quite asleep
you pray for love to ever keep
you from running aground
on the shallows and the shoals
you make

To your delight she moves to hold you
soft and tender to enfold you
to nestle her head nice and
close against your neck
in what might be part
of a perfect start
to the love you dreamed
in your prayer
for heart to heart

Awake you see in her gentle ways
the wish to fill you with her grace
and her touches and her kisses
and her whispering
that love can be

Till a hollow hurt and your hallowed hope
one day conspire to elope
with the courage and the honesty
you feign as an ethereal
pain departs
with your craven heart
as you take for granted
her gift of
heart to heart

So you say your piece and she starts to cry
you speak again you ask her why
does the sadness in her
and the sadness in you
increase

She doesn't know and she tells you so
she turns away and sets to go
and you stay with your dream
and you wonder at the hurting
and so you start
to drift apart
for the things unsaid
and the lack of
heart to heart

Her footsteps trace across this page
to find you hiding in your cage
to find the lover she knew
to find the dreamer you hid
from her
then hid from you

You think of her quite a lot these days
you see her smile her graceful ways
and you wish you could talk
and could tell her what your
troubles were

You saw her once with a child or two
she looked your way but not at you
and the ache in your soul as you
wish you could have gone to her
stuns the part
of a friendless heart
that had not the courage
to love her
heart to heart

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