(2005)
He gets up at dinner time and goes to his job
Thinking about how beautiful the morning would have been if he’d woken with love
Leaning over a counter of a empty store after the dinner rush
Observing cover to cover in the magazine rack
“How to find love” “10 ways to improve your love life” and so on and so forth
But surely no one who has love could put in to words
How to find it, surely it found them
So it’s 6pm and he leaves
He passes the girl on the way out who works the late shift
She smiles and so does he in response but no more crosses between them
At home he sits down and eats his meal for one
While his imagination takes him to a beautiful restaurant with a romantic woman
But as his plate empties and he rises from his green couch
He changes for his night out
Where maybe just maybe
It is not that he is unpleasing to the eye
Or to the ears
He seems like a nice guy but he wants love a bit too much
He seems to always be upset and stressed
His love life seems a complicated mess
He dresses in his normal jeans and as clean a T-shirt as he can find
It is blue and has a tear in the bottom
Things like this never phase him, never mind
He desires and lusts but still wants someone who loves his personality
Someone who cares not for the clothes on his back or the money he earns
As he goes out and the night goes on
He barely drinks, wander and search
Dancing a little here and a little there
Chit chats and talks of girls
How they keep messing up his head and messing with his world
But why does he keep letting them
Squirming and drowning thoughts inside his head
Have fun, live your life to the full while you still have the side of youth
So the end of the night arrives and he wanders and searches some more
Outside the doors no girls at his heels and no phone numbers gained
He walks home even though he has the fare repeating self-blame
Time is all he has and this act passes more of it to tire him into sleep
So he undresses and brushes his teeth and the next thing he knows
His alarm again beep… beep
So it’s dinner time again and he rises
Shower and shave, uniform for work
He passes the woman who works the early shift
She smiles and so does he in response but no more crosses between them
The dinner rush kills an hour or two and now he’s back
Back to leaning over the counter and looking around the store
Back to reading eye catchers on that magazine rack…
Day in
Day out
Four years and not one hope since coming to this goddamn city
He’s hitting 22 and starts thinking about moving away
It has given him everything it could and that’s not much
One day that alarm goes beep…beep
It’s dinner time and he rises and he decides it’s time
Packs up his jeans and his T-shirts, a few books
Sells some stuff to his roommate and the guy downstairs who gives him a crazy look
The rest he leaves
One case and one backpack
Entering the station thinking of where he’d like to see and what he’d like to do
Amazed at himself on this platform now to who knows where
Just as long as it’s not here where everything is that he knows
What can he do, what can he become, what can he learn
Then a voice “Excuse me I don’t suppose you have the time?”
Casually still off dreaming, a glance to his watch “Yea sure, its quarter past 9.”
Looking at the ticket, it’s not due for another half hour
Staring at the track, eager to start but still no sign
“Are you just visiting this city, on your way home?”
Becoming aware and out of his daydream of a future unknown
A woman looking at him
Trying to gauge a response from his facial expressions, as he doesn’t seem to be talking
She smiles and so does he and their conversations start
She was just a girl at a station going home because she had come to this place alone
This city seemed to be against her
He tried to explain all the things he had found slight beauty in as they passed time
She was unconvinced, but he agreed to show her
His beautiful city, how he led her with a sense of pride
A fresh beauty now seen as he looked through the eyes of someone else
He wandered with love and being shown love back
All it took was that moment, a change in focus
Breaking with silly ideals and airbrushed couples on the magazine shelf
Love came and found him once it knew he could be happy with himself