With Words
One night I had a dream
of all the questions I’d ask,
of all the ways to glimpse behind your mask
But with the morning sun
and dizzy day they fled
Still I am asking, do you have regrets?
There’s a lot of space between us,
mountains and valleys and sky
When I was a child I thought I’d fly
Now I’m still trying to find a way
to build a bridge with words
Words are such funny things,
they flood us and leave us dry
Yet once in a while they heal us and bring us life
Like honey of golden sun,
like sudden snow on your face
Like flint striking flint, can you see the grace?
There’s a lot of space between us,
memories and failings and tries
When I was a child I thought I’d fly
Now I’m still trying to find a way
to build a bridge with words
Now I’m still trying to find a way
to build a bridge with words
Song notes:
“Gracious words are like honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” Prov. 16:24
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver… Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him.” Prov. 25:11, 13
Sometimes I am quite literal, and in the case of this song, I literally had a dream one night where I thought of all the perfect ways to say and ask what I would want to say and ask a particular person that was on my heart. Of course when I woke up I couldn’t remember any of those perfect things. Particularly nowadays I feel like there is so much communication, online especially, and yet it mostly just feels overwhelming, not healing. Proverbs is full of this contrast (there are plenty of suggestions to do things like close your mouth and then at least no one will know you are a fool) but still gives us beautiful pictures of the value of good words, fitly and graciously spoken. In the middle of so many words there is still room and, in fact, need of good words. This is my goal, even as I am unable to remember the perfect things I dreamed of.