Romantic Song Lyrics - Stephen Richard Eng

8/6/2019 Romantic Song Lyrics - Stephen Richard Eng

1/29

Romance

A Womans Work is Never Done

It takes a lot of trouble and toil forgetting you,

But everybody says Ill find me someone,

But Ive been working overtime on your memoryA womans work is never done.

It takes a lot of labor and effort to greet the day,

It takes a lot of courage to face the sun,It aint easy but Ill be getting up one more time

A womans work is never done.

Ive struggled hard to make a love as if theres really nothing wrong.And everybody down at work respects me, and they say I do belong.

It takes a lot of practice at home to get things right,

A fishing poleand baseballand B-B gun.

I wrap each package, sign your name to the greeting card

A womans work is never done.05-27-84

*

Agoraphobia

No walls! Naked spaceAnd panic born of openness,

Where we confront loves dread expanse.

Beware! Terror-place

Of freedom where our hearts undress,

And too much candor kills Romance.

Retreat! Goretrace

Our trail and trek where fear is less,

And sentiment (old-fashioned) has a chance.04-21-81

*

Aloha Street

The others always set her high

And latter dirtied her to die,


2/29

Until the only thing I found

Was Carol crippled on the ground.

I lifter her a little late

For any of her love or hate,

When all she wanted me to touchWere tears that trickled down her crutch.

And when I kissed her mirror cleanOf all the images between

Tomorrow and the past she made,

I found her quivering and afraid.

And so I fled the heavy gloom

Of Carol in her furnished room,

Where musty memories still feed

Her feelings till they burst and bleed.08-27-68

*

And I Never Got Over You and Me

I missed the last few class reunions,Youve been to one, theyre all the same;

I shut my eyes and see those yearbook faces

That silly heart you drew around my name.

Growing up for some means growing older

Ive traveled light, Ive traveled farBut out there on that lifetime highway

Sometimes you find exactly who you are:

And I never, never, never got over you and me.

Hate to see how you have changed, for God knows time

Has left its lines on me.Growing old but still I cant outgrow remembering

What we said wed be, you and me.

Ive traveled continents and oceans,

Ive slept in palaces and cheap hotels,

Ive danced with ladies of a foreign language,But all Ive really learned is what time tells:

And I never, never, never got over you and me.

02-04-84


3/29

*

And Then Make Love

Im glad of April rain,

Keeping us indoorsInside our rattled window pane

While the night storm pours.

The rains a winding sheet,

Shrouding up the night;

Inside we drink and talk and eat

By a fire built bright.05-28-79

*

April Flight

Tear-times,Cloud chimes,

Wind-tunes,

Ice-moons:

Nancy.

Sun-lines,

Spring wines,Once more

Shell soar:

Nancy.07-16-77

*

Bad Goodbye

We tried to tie the time,

But now I find that ImA drifter down a road of make-believe.

We tried so hard to care,

But still we didnt shareOur secrets for the other to receive.

And now our futures past,For flowers never last,

They bloom, and then they wither in a year.

For flowers are not real

They bloom and then they peel


4/29

Their petals to the ground and disappear.

I think we played too free,I think we tried to be

The hero and the queen upon the stage,

But now the curtains down,And you can pawn your crown,

Too late for love, we learned to act our age.

1967*

Be Good To You

Be good to you,

Love yourself true,

Ill take care of me,

Whatever else you do, be good to you.

Be good to you,Look your mirror in the eye,

Give yourself another try,

Clear that cloudy sky,

Ill take care of me, whatever else you do,Be good to you.

Be good to you,Make your color gold, not blue,

Its just another name for falling rain,

No more pain,Not as long as you make sure youre good to you.

Be good to you,Love yourself true, Ill take care of me,

Whatever else you do, be good to you.

Be good to you,Someone else will be

Good to you, youll see,

Love loves companyIf you want the love you think that youre entitled to,

Be good to you.

Be good to you,

Find a mountain with a view,

Leave all the tears of yesterday below,

Melting snow,


5/29

And youll be so good to me, and me to you.

07-06-76

*

Blue Ridge

As August melted from its sticky heat,

September watched us traveling to where

Virginia, South Carolina, both do meet:The apple-mountains rich with grape and pear.

Her family and sister welcomed me,

Far too polite to ever seem quite real,

I drowned in country hospitalityAnd careful conversation at each meal.

But underneath I felt a tense unease:

Her elder sister seemed to look through all

The harmony like some lone bird that seesAn animal below about to fail and fall,

Our mutual hatred and respect were likeThe hunted for the hunter as it stalks to strike.

10-04-75

*

Buffalo Skull on the Desert

Buffalo skull on the desert,White from the wind and the sun,

Sometimes I feel like that buffalo skull

I really dont need anyone.

Buffalo skull on the desert,

Spider makes a home in its head;Sometimes I feel like that buffalo skull

When I think of those last words you said.

You said to me, Adios, caballero, were crossing the border,A posses close on our trail;

Were wanted for love, and theres a price on our hearts

Were fugitives from somebodys jail,And our ponies are starting to fail

Buffalo skull on the desert,Gila monster scurries by;

Sometimes I feel like that buffalo skull

Under the dry desert sky.


6/29

Buffalo skull on the desert,

Might make a good souvenir;

Sometimes I feel like that buffalo skullOn a fence post so far from here.

1985

*

Burgundy Morning

Burgundy morning, too early for drinking, no one tells me what to do;

I see your face in that half-empty bottle, purple reflections of you;

Burgundy morning says goodbye to moonlight, opening doors on the dawn;

Lavender curtains you bought for the window, keep out the light when theyre drawn.

Burgundy morning, the neighbors are noisy, wives kissing husbands goodbye;

Wonder what they say about me behind me, they think I dont even try;

Too young for pity and too old for quitting, guess Ill write you one more time;Almost ten-thirty, the mailman is missingservice like that is a crime.

Burgundy morning, some children are playing baseball right next to our yard;

I hope theyre careful and watch where theyre throwing, dont hit that ball too damned

hard;

I should be selling this house and be moving no one would miss me thats right;Maybe if I just re-read your last letter, Id see things in a new light.

Burgundy morning, and Im feeling drowsy, wine reaching up to my brain;I should be with you, but you kept it secret, making sure I would remain;

Noise in the street wont keep me from my sleeping, sirens and whistles they scream;

Burgundy morning becomes afternoon and I only hope I wont dream.1968

*

Byronic

My senses are a symphony

Of violent disharmony,Enjoying any melody

Thats sad.

Self-pitys always sweeter than

Remembering that Im a man,

And sentimental verses canBe bad.

09-27-67

*


7/29

Capitol Hill

She sat in downtown restaurants alone,And read her book until they shut the doors;

Defiant, seventeen, and on her own,

She made her coffee last an hour or more.So when I couldnt find her home I ran

Ridiculously about the neighborhood,

A comic maniac whod been a manBehaving like a wounded coyote would:

I circled, almost howling with brute pain

Around dark Washington, through every place

She ought to be but wasntalmost insaneAshamed of panicking for a mere face.

The restaurants were empty of her everywhere:

Could she have drowned in summers humid air?

05-11-75*

Carolina Border Dream

Carolina Border Dream, forget me,

Autumn winds are thinning out the trees,Everything we started now is over,

Button up your coat against the breeze.

South Virginia summertime was heaven,

Apple orchards, grapes upon the vine,

Something Ill remember for a lifetime,Sorry yours will never fit with mine.

When youre young, you never say the right thing,Always much too pushy or too shy,

Carolina Border Dream, Im leaving,

Autumn clouds are coloring the sky.

Carolina Border Dream, Im sorry,

Blue Ridge mountainsides are turning brown,

Ill be heading north to spend the winter,Try to lose myself in some big town.

Carolina Border Dream, its ending,Like they always hoped it would, one day,

Hate to make them happy, now were parting,

Golden skies are turning into grey.

07-29-77


8/29

*

Closing Time

When the music stills, as the closing chords are played,

I fancy I hear your name,I stay behind, and tipsy, I proclaim

A toast! To our once-love, then limp home, passion-lame.

07-08-81*

Condemned

Curse the poets with oblivion.

They havent changed a thing.

There still is war and pestilential greed

In spite of how they sing.

Damn the poets to perdition.They havent fathomed Fate.

The grave is still inscrutable, yet near

No poet makes death wait.

Banish poets to cruelest torture.

They deserve the rack

For promising your heart to meWhen rhymes wont woo you back.

09-23-83

*

Confession

The minor poet with major soul

Plays the petty role:

Overacting his meager part

Craft at best, not art.

The minor poet with major pain

Speaks words that fall in vainConcealing his passion in soft clich

Blurry, hueless, grey

01-05-80*

Connubial Confusion


9/29

Perhaps a third sex will evolve,

As genes revolve,

Regroup, and reappear like new.Instead of two,

When people love (next century),

It may take three!07-07-78

*

Construction Site

Once your dreams were chiseled stones

Fitted in with care,Now they crumble since youve grown,

Falling from the air.

Castles topple from the sky,Better they are gone,

Earth is firm enough to tryBuilding new ones on.

1972

*

Crazed Cavorting

Ive danced in a clowning jig,Bells on my nimble toes,

Askew on my head, a wig,

Smile painted over my woes.

Ive clapped in a rhythm inane---

Jumped in my floppy clothesMy grease-paint dissolved in rain

While tear-drop insanity flows.

1987

*

Curtain

Tomorrows stage will not allow

Us more of Now.

And so our comedy is through:Im me, youre you.

09-01-73

*


10/29

Dale Evans Is Riding Tonight

The young girls pony is made from the stick of a broom,With posters of rodeos thumb-tacked all over her room.

She heads off to school with her lunch in a metal lunch pail

With a picture of a cowgirl and the words HAPPY TRAILS!

Dale Evans is riding tonight, on the bright silver screen

In the midst of a young girls dream;Dale Evans is riding tonight

Shes the Queen of the West, with her red leather vest

Dale Evans is riding tonight.

The little girl grows up but she clings to her childhood games,

She looks for Roy Rogers but she always attracts Jesse James.

She takes a couple of falls in the rodeo called married life

Now shes back in the saddleAdios to those years as a wife.

Dale Evans is riding tonight, on the bright silver screenIn the midst of a young womans dream;

Dale Evans is riding to night

Shes the Queen of the West, shes got fringe on her dress


Shes home on the range with her friend the acoustic guitar;

Its state fairs and rodeos and too many years in the bars;Tonight on the stage in Cheyenne shes raising her hand

The crowd, gives a roarshes married some guy in her band!

Dale Evans is riding tonight, on the bright silver screen

In the midst of a cowgirls dream;

Dale Evans is riding tonightShes the Queen of the West, in her cattle-brand vest


1985

*

Dark Highway

Seattle summertime is all

Forgotten, in an ugly fall

Of fog, and ever-soaking rainThat hammers heavy down

Upon a womans window-pane,

As I am leaving town.


11/29

Her only souvenirs are some

Of my romantic poems from

Illusions of an August love,That left her out of breath

Before her artist-image of

Me died an autumn death.

October teaches her that I

Had my ambitions up too high,Imagining Id ever be

Remembered by a book.

But all of her was offered free

For taking, so I took.11-08-67

*

Dead Rainbow

The shade of rage is a gory red,The glow of love is gold,

The color of your indifference is lead:

The grey of love grown cold.

The hue of hate is ebony,

The wash of faith is white,

The dark of your disdain for meIs black as a loveless night.

07-04-80

*

Death by Mirrors

I cry in the hollow of my years:

Reverberant despair resounds. None hears.

I run searching down the corridors for you

But youre not here. Echoes mock anew.Is this alls meant by silence, this?

The violence of stillness. Deaf-mute bliss.

On cold, metallic walls, I press a kissAnd realize the surfaces are glass

Mirrors Ive been passing. Reflected dreams harass

As I fall crumbling, staring at the massOf mocking memories that stare right back:

I see you. Me. Then all goes black.

03-10-82

*


12/29

Definition

Love: the warmest weave of flesh and friendship,

Trust, till-the-endship,

Bittersweet, romantic blendship.03-79

*

Delilah Goes Dancing

Her Mama says, Daughter, take care when youre dancing, the boys,

They dont step on your feet,Be fast on your toes. Wear your very best clothes,

You never know who you might meet.

Cause life is a ballroom, and youre at the center,

With your dress and your pretty red hair.So get out there and dance, like a paperback romance,

Cause you just might meet Fred Astaire.

But the ballrooms were closed, and disco was over,

Though in Texas they still like to swing.

The fiddles enchant her, and the cowboys they dance her,And one of them offers his ring.

Hes not big in cattle, no, and hes got no oil well,

But hes got a Texas size grin.Shes in the family wayhe got a raise in pay

And you ought to see her dance and spin

Now her life is happy, and her life is tragic,

And her life is like yours and mine.

When her hair turns to grey and they lay her away,Her children walk by in a line.

But sometimes at night you can see dear Delilah by the church at the top of the hill.

She floats on the breeze, in and out of the trees. She dances and she always willDelilah goes dancing, shes spending her life in a whirl,

Delilah goes dancing, that magical, musical dancing girl.

1981*

Demora, Goodbye

I.

I slept, and saw your face again, pale against the dark of dream..


13/29

Demora, how you haunt my tossing sleep anew!

Unfaithfulthis you sigh across oblivions black stream

That flows like Lethe in my memoryI left you, yesbut for that vampire-mistress, Poetry.

II.

She drains my youth and presses brief sanguine kisses on my soul,

And I write sonnets named for her, not you,Although, Demora, you I rather should extol.

But I was won away by Poetrys sweet lies,

While you, Demora, stifle sobs and martyred cries.

III.

I woke and saw your face again, bright across the fog of years,

Demora, all too late. Futility remains. All else is through.For Poetry deserted me, months ago. She left no tears,

But hinted at a younger lover she desired.Her love for me (like mine for you, Demora), nows expired.

IV.

..

10-13-82

*

Dont Let Your Dreams Get Away From You

So many people you see on the street

Are walking heads down with their eyes at their feet,

You tell from how they move theyve let it die.You see an old friend and you ask him Whats new?

--He changes the topic to talk about you,

He hates to let you see his dream went by.

Everyone says, Son, youre wasting your life,

The years come down like a rusty knife

And cut the heart from out of your fantasy.Its damned good advice but the kind you ignore,

You smile and youre keeping right on like before,

That golden dream is your reality.

Dont let your dreams get away from you,

Theres nothing thats quite as true

As a dream of your ownits stronger than stone,


14/29

Dont let your dreams get away from you

Theres nothing thats quite as true.

1976*

Elaine, Ethereal(for Marge B. Simon)

I glimpsed you strolling as you always used to do,Graceful as a playful breeze

On the knoll alive with lilies, yesterday.

You wore that tailored shirt of sailor-blue,Tattered jeans above your knees

And your dust-gold hair in sunny disarray.

Erotic wraith, I know youve been untrue!Deaths the lover whom you please.

He seduced you, pretty phantompallid, fey,In denim-blue and sunlit gold. And I feel grey

As your marker, where I kneel and pray.

09-10-82

*

Erasing All Trace of Elaine

Its true, I have forgotten you, Elaine,

Utterly, as leaves when leaving summer trees

Die unremembering, as they coast along the breezeToward autumn ground. No souvenirs remain.

Blurred images efface and fade. I cannot see your plain

White dress, bedecked with flowered fineries:Poppiesyellow, orange, with Death-dark centers. Please

Believe my loves dissolved, drowned in Falls grey rain.

Through dimming years Ill rarely, any more

View you in my imaginings. Your summer-tinted hairOf golden tawn recedes. My lust cannot recall

Your criminally-carnal figure, or

Your rose-flushed mouth. Romance lies in Deaths lair.In winters pall, I have forgotten all.

08-80

*

Erasing All Trace of Elaine

Its true, I have forgotten you, Elaine,


15/29

Utterly, as leaves when leaving summer trees

Die unremembering, as they coast along the breeze

Toward autumn ground. No souvenirs remain.Blurred images efface and fade. I cannot see your plain

White dress, bedecked with flowered fineries:

Poppiesyellow, orange, with Death-dark centers. PleaseBelieve my loves dissolved, drowned in Falls grey rain.

Through dimming years Ill rarely, any more

View you in my imaginings. Your summer-tinted hairOf golden tawn recedes. My lust cannot recall

Your criminally-carnal figure, or

Your rose-flushed mouth. Romance lies in Deaths lair.

In winters pall, I have forgotten all.08-80

*

Evaporation

Im dreaming your face in the silvery dawn,An opaline image of white,

Evanescently faint, like a hand-painted saint,

Piously pale in the light.

I worshipfully wait for the sharpening lines

To clarify features of you,

But planes in your face are dissolving in space,And another dull day starts anew.

08-03-82

*

Finale

Our tragicomedy was curtained down,With her still laughing at my crucial lines,

Me tripping on her makeshift, tawdry gown,

Embroidered with a clowns, not queens designs.

More months of bitter letters flowed betweenUs, linking us like losers to defeat.

And for an anti-climaxed, encore scene,

We wore loves death-mask and its winding sheet.We exited the stage apart, adrift,

Our tattered, rolled-up script tossed in the aisle,

And blushed to think our mutual gaudy giftFor melodrama made the critics smile.

We passed upon the street in early Fall:

It hurt not hurting any more at all.

19-17-77


16/29

*

Flames

Your face fades into its veil,

Spider-web pale,But we talk idly of books,

Not of your looks.

Your body is smoldering bright,

Flesh will ignite,

And you ask What have I read?

All has been said.10-08-77

*

Flogged

My eyes are stabbed with spike-point stars,My heart is flamed by gaseous suns,

My face is carved with wind-whipped scars,

My eardrums puncture from the thunders guns.

My dreams divide with earth quake cracks,

Im buried in volcanic ash---

From wanting you. Love frays and wracksMy soul beneath its studded lash.

07-02-83

*

For Amy

Though Im an easy-mannered man,

There isnt anyone who can out shout me.

So any woman has to give

Herself up silently, or live without me11-11-67

*

Four Kinds of Lonely

Therere four kinds of lonely, and I know them all,One of thems summer, and one of thems fall,

One of thems winter, and one of thems spring

Therere four kinds of lonely, to each one I sing.


17/29

In spring-time I think of that year when we met,

In summer I think how you hadnt left yet,

In autumn I think how you left like the leaves,In winter I hear you when wind hits the eaves.

In spring-time I look at those flowers you grew,In summer I walk through the woods we once knew,

In autumn I miss you, and I always will,

In winter I stand by your stone in the chill.1981

*

From Your Fianc

I found your letters yesterday

Eighteen years ago.

You wisely wrote from Paris infrancaisWithout the pride, without the show.

Im glad to note, I feel no more,

Reading you anew

Except to marvel how your closing door

Was shut so softly. Subtle you.

The tactfulness in every line

Missed me way back then.Your dignity indelibly divine

Thanks come slow from certain men.

12-24-81*

Frost Dirge

You scatter songs upon the breeze

Of August, casting all

Your lyrics and your May-time melodiesAway, before Fall

Descends with desolating pall.

You hear your tunes on autumn gales,

In banshee-echoed sound

Of late November. Music wailsIn mockery as storm-gusts pound.

Your summer chords cannot be found.

The dirge of winter-time completes


18/29

Oblivion of all youve sung.

December weathers wind defeats

Your muse. With ice, your lyre is hung,Its frost-snapped strings unstrung.

Your sleet-bejeweled Deaths head strives to singThrough Time-clenched teeth. But no notes ring.

1982

*

Frozen Rose

We cast away our rose,Borne upon the breeze

That carries with it those

Summer memories.

Our wind-borne rose descends,

Petals floating down,And summer love now ends

Like a rose turned brown.

Theres rose-dust at our feet,Autumn in our hearts

That turns to snow and sleet:

Loves long winter starts.04-27-79

*

Gem-Siren

Amethyst eyes and a garnet grinBeckon you from your home:

Marble-white woman with star-spun skin,

Shimmering in the gloam.

Tourmaline facets of light revolve,

Cycles of dazzling bliss

Brilliantly blind you, till you dissolveLost in her jeweled kiss.

1971

*

Gem-Siren

Amethyst eyes and a garnet grin


19/29

Beckon you from your home:

Marble-white woman with star-spun skin,

Shimmering in the gloam.

Tourmaline facets of light revolve,

Cycles of dazzling blissBrilliantly blind you, till you dissolve

Lost in her jeweled kiss.

1971*

Gossamer Love

Silver-limbed lady floats past in a dream,

Body as soft as warm cream,

And her voice like a mandolin.

Why does she visit me only in sleep?Why cant I capture and keep

Her ethereal hair and skin?Faint as a feather, shes blowing away

Gone are those eyes of soft grey,

Everlost, like her witch-girl grin.

01-11-79*

Harvest

Squeeze the apple dry

Toss the withered coreDown before

Apple-days all die.

Apple-time is fled,

Like your younger days.

Time obeys

Nothing you have said.

Trees are stripped and bare

Of fruit that you once knew;Autumn blew

Away on hungry air.

1976*

How?


20/29

How staunch the flow of loves hot blood?

How check its ceaseless flood

Sucked by devil-leaches draining paleA heart once healthy robust and hale?

07-10-88

*

I Dont Know Why I Love You

(for Anne)

I dont know why I love you,

I dont know why I care;

If love required a reason,Then love would not be there.

I dont know why I love you,

I only know I do.Some things you never question,

Your heart knows what is true.1989

*

I Feel Like Columbus (When I Discover You)

Your love is like a harbor where I want to be,

Your bodys like a treasure in a tropic sea,I cant believe my eyes each time you smile at me,

I feel like Columbus when I discover you.

Ive been at sea so long I feel Im getting old,

The ocean winds are heavy and the waters cold,

And then I touch your body and its pure as goldI feel like Columbus when I discover you.

Ive been a drunken sailor, and Ive wandered far,

I set my course upon a falling star,And later when Im almost ship-wrecked, there you are!

I feel like Columbus when I discover you.

So let me go exploring with you by my side,

Were making love along the sand, before the tide,

My heart is full of ecstasy, where once I criedI feel like Columbus when I discover you.

1975

*


21/29

I Keep Running Into You

I saw the blue of your eyes last evening,Bur her face and her smile werent the same;

I pressed her against me while dancing,

Caught myself breathing your name.

I saw your dress walking down the sidewalk,

And I followed for a block or twoAnd she turned around and I saw her:

Part of her looked like you.

I keep running into you, everyplace that I go,It seems like youre all over town,

I keep running into you, everyplace that I go,

Eyes of blue and hair of chestnut brown.

1980*

(Im) A Little More Over You

Im a little less sad, Im a little more glad,

Im a little more over you,Well, thats enoughitll have to do

Cause Im a little more over you.

Man: Monday was the first day I woke up without you on my lonesome mind,

Tuesday I began to think your memory was leaving me behind,

And here it is the weekend and Im getting dressed to go with someone new,Im checking all the signs and they all read that Im a little more over you.

Woman: I still get your mail and people still come by to see if you live here,My friends all ask about you but I think they understand it all too clear,

Im getting used to getting by without you, now I know youve been untrue.

The weeks are melting into months until Im just a little more over you.

Woman: Ive cancelled all our credit cards and Im putting on my makeup just for me,

Ive changed the number to my dreams and tried to disconnect your memory;

Im getting used to getting by without you, cause I know youve been untrueThe weeks are melting into months, until Im just a little more over you.

Man: Everybody says Im looking great you know my friends they tell the truth.I bought myself a cowboy hat to help recapture all my wasted youth.

I wear it to the tavernperfect strangers there they seem to know my name

Lets have another round, the alcohol extinguishes your flame.


22/29

Woman: I bought myself a brand-new dress, those magazines they show you how to

look;

And every time I meet some man he writes my name inside his little book;Im the life of every party and these late nights theyll be the death of me;

Out there on that dance-floor Im the fastest little girl youll ever see!

1980*

I Once Had an Angel

I once had an angelshe had silvery wings,

Now the memory of her, it burns and it stings.

We both lived in heaven, till she crashed to the ground,And Id rather not mention that devil she found

Now her wings have turned scarlet

From the shame of her life,I once had an angel,

I once had a wife.

I try to forget heras I look in my glass

But whiskey reflections of her will not pass.

I once had an angeland the chance wont come twice;To hell with salvation. I lost paradise.

07-24-84

*

I Should Be Asleep

I should be asleep by now,

Without you I dont know how,

Ill keep singing to the moon,I should be asleep by noon.

Waiting for the light to show,

I should be asleep I know.

I should be asleep somewhere,

Sighing softly in your hair;

Promises arent made to break,Five oclock and Im awake.

Always had to have my way,

Never let you get your say.

Yellow lines along the blue,

I should be asleep with you,

Turned an angel into stone,


23/29

Tell me, do you sleep alone?

Waiting for the dawn to rise,

No one wins when no one tries.

Shadows melting in the sun,

Stars are dying one-by-one,You should be asleep with me,

I cant hug that memory;

Never seen you gone this long,Even I know I was wrong.

I should be asleep.

05-77*

Inscrutable

Is love a poem or just plain prose?

Is it life instead of art?Is it religion, or a literary pose?

Psychologyor the fragrance of the rose?

Arcane, mysterium of the heart.

04-09-82*

It Feels So Good, Not feeling

I saw you kissing him, but I just smiled,

There was a time that would have drove me wild,It feels so good, not feeling anymore,

It feels so good, not feeling anymore.

Theres something in the way you said Hello,

I guess youre not that girl I used to know,

Its just as well, because Im changing too

It feels so good, not feeling seeing you,It reels so good, not feeling, seeing you,

I used to burn my fingers on that torch I tried to bear,I wrote you all those letters telling you Id always care,

I hope you threw away those silly letters from a fool,

You always said the brightest flame would be the first to cool.

The waitress comes and she refills my glass,

I never thought Id see those memries pass,

It feels so good, not feeling, and Im free,


24/29

It feels so good, not feeling, and Im free.

1978

*

Its Laurie, Laughing

In some big crowd you think you see her there,

A different face inside that same blond hair,

Her voice, it echoes later, down the hall,Its Laurie laughing at you, after all.

Sometimes when youre dreaming, she floats by,

Tempting you to taste another try,But over breakfast, dreams should go away,

Yes, Lauries laughing at you, night and day.

You took her picture down and filled the space,Can anything make you forget her face?

You put another portrait in the frame,But Lauries laughing at you, all the same.

And Lauries laughing at you in your mind,

She always said you were the sober kind,Im paying for her wineit makes her smile

Yes, Lauries laughing at you every mile.

10-04-76*

Its Laurie, Laughing

In some big crowd you think you see her there,

A different face inside that same blond hair,Her voice, it echoes later, down the hall,

Its Laurie laughing at you, after all.

Sometimes when youre dreaming, she floats by,Tempting you to taste another try,

But over breakfast, dreams should go away,

Yes, Lauries laughing at you, night and day.

You took her picture down and filled the space,

Can anything make you forget her face?You put another portrait in the frame,

But Lauries laughing at you, all the same.

And Lauries laughing at you in your mind,


25/29

She always said you were the sober kind,

Im paying for her wineit makes her smile

Yes, Lauries laughing at you every mile.10-04-76

*

Its Never Too Late for Love

(for Anne)

Its never too late for love, no, its never too late for love,

Its never too, never too, never too late for love.

Everybody says Slow down, dont you know what time its getting to be?I dont watch the clock, I just look in my heart, and its time for you and me,

Stop! Wait a minuteits time for a time check

Its half-past getting to know you, and its a quarter-to-a midnight kiss!

Daylight savings time, getting close to you, on a long winters night.Youre always in season, baby, Im writing your name on every calendar page, as brown

hair turns to white.

Its never too late for love, no, its never too late for love,Its never too, never too, never too late for love.

1986

*

Joanne

I struggled writing poetry

For authors of Eternity

To envy, ever after me.Another summer and I knew

My immortality was you.

07-28-68

*

Judy Garland Rainbow

Go find yourself a Judy Garland rainbow,

Shut your eyes and see it, oh, so clear.

It draws you like a beacon, and it guides you like a star, so far from here.

Keep searching for that Judy Garland Rainbow,

People say youre foolish and nave.

You walk that road of yellow bricks with confidence because you do believe.


26/29

And its magic, yes, its magic, and oh, so pretty.

Youre reaching, yes, youre reaching that Emerald City.

And when you find that Judy Garland rainbow,

Help somebody else to make it through,The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman know the secret, and I know theyll share it too.

1981

*

Know Your Lines

Your love is scored with lines:The thin one of a bitter smile,

Loosening after while,

The legal ones you sign in ink,

Those round the tub and in the sink,The battle-lines you draw in bed;

Lastly, lines said in your head.04-30-78

*

Last Question

I found you were

Yourself, not her,And you found he

Was him, not me.

So well discussOurselves as us.

05-23-73

*

Late-Night Lady

Late-night lady buys her own beer,She knows how to get home from here,

All-night loser gets drunk alone,

Late-night lady is on her own.

Worn-out slippers and faded gown,

She belongs in this part of town:Closing time, and the hour is later

Try to stop her but she wont wait.

Very winter the weathers colder.


27/29

Every evening the drunks get bolder,

Just this morning the mirror told her,

Late-night lady, youre one year older.

Late-night lady, dont leave so fast,

I dont care about your bad past,Long-time waiting to talk to you,

Tell me your storyIll cry some too.

12-12-76*

Lenore

The slouching hills

Brave morning chills

To walk the low

Horizons, slowAnd icy as your eyes.

They seem to see

Through you and me,

They shuffle far

From where we are,Below the fog-grey skies.

01-16-78

*

Like the Wind on a Winters Day

Love used to be the answer.

Now its a painful question.

Are you staying, or are you blowing awayLike the wind on a winters day?

Love was the whisper of Springtime,

Sighing around us so softly.Our rose-colored sky is turning grey,

Like the wind on a winters day,

Summertime love full of laughter,

Firing our bodies and our dreams.

Sensuous hot August passion,Turns cold like December snowon our skin.

Love is like ice on your fingers

Burning and freezing at once.


28/29

Goodbye is a chilly word to say

Like the wind on a winters day.

Love is a Springtime illusion

Wedding bells ringing in June.

Later, they toll for the heartbreakLike the wind on a winters day.

1984

*

Linda Did You Ever Change Your Name?

Across a crowded room I heard your name,

But nothing in the sound could fan the flame,It flickered and it died so long ago;

But still there are these answers I must know.

I looked inside my drink and saw the lightReflected from a love that once burned bright,

But cigarettes and noise had filled my mind;But still there are these answers I must find.

Linda, did you ever change your name?

Are the letters in your last name still the same?Linda, did you ever change your name?

I thought I saw your face across the floor,A fading phantom from the life before,

It lingered like a lamp across the room,

But then it vanished in the ghost-like gloom.

I wanted to remain but it was late,

I finished up my drink, I couldnt wait;I wandered home and wondered if youd found

Another man to keep you on the ground.

Linda, did you ever change your name?Are the letters in your last name still the same?

Linda, did you ever change your name?

1968*

Love Death

One more dreamy dawn,

Lazy as a yawn,

Colors me with you:


29/29

Orange, and pastel blue.

Miles and months of Time,Green as gin-and-lime

In a tall, cool glass:

Even eons pass.

Twilight turns to pink,

Dying sun will sinkDown inside the trees:

Dreams of you all freeze.

05-14-77

*

Love Doesnt Love Us Anymore

Love doesnt love us, anymore.Our pretty ocean shell has lost its roar.

We press it to our ear, but all we really hearIs silence.

Cause love doesnt love us anymore.

Someones changed the lock on loves front door.

Our keyit doesnt fit, and on the porch we sit.And cry.

Once was the time when love was in love with us.

We walked hand-in-hand through loves wonderland,But that was then

And this here is now:

Love says goodbye to the dreams you and I have planned.

Cause love doesnt love us anymore.

Teardrops never rain, they only pour.We go our lonesome ways,

But until our final days

Well remember:

That love doesnt love us anymore.Love doesnt love us anymore,

Anymore anymore

1978*

Romantic Song Lyrics - Stephen Richard Eng

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Transcript of Romantic Song Lyrics - Stephen Richard Eng