[update] as I’m prone to do, I’ve rewritten the lyrics fairly extensively after the first round… this version is, I think, pretty close to its final form.

It’s the Capricorn New Moon tonight. As I hoped, I found a song to write for Haiti.

The Story in My Head

there’s a story in my head, and this is how it goes
we start at the beginning, go as far as we can go
and we grow in all directions, and we struggle for our pay
like a mismatched collection of scenes from a pointless play
and it’s too much work, too hard, I give up
and then I die

there’s a story in my head, and this is how I know
the end is the beginning, and what I see is so
and what I dream is real, and who I am is how I feel
and you know that you should let me, you should let me be real
it’s too much work, too hard, I give up
and then you die

Ain’t no story that I’m in, there ain’t nobody tellin’,
just me and thee and she and he and all this yellin’
we fight for the right to be right about how the story goes
and life is just a wrestling match and all my friends are foes
and it’s too much work, too hard, I give up
and then we die

there’s a story in my head, it never ends, it only grows
and it’s set right here and now, and all the players share one soul
and all the world’s a stage, with paintings on the wall
and Haiti doesn’t matter, nothing matters at all
and it’s too much work, too hard, I give up
and then they die

Haiti is no story, such suffering is real
In death there is no glory, I offer them my tears
And my song

And I don’t know why the struggling Haitian poor
And I don’t know why the citizens of New York
and I don’t know why the old French Quarter’s gone
and I don’t know why Iraq, Afghanistan

There’s a story in my head, it’s coming out all wrong
I crumple up the paper, instead I write a song
I give with what I got, and I sing with what I am
forget about the story, I cannot give a damn

Life is vast, pain is real,
may all beings be healed
Love be vast, pain be healed,
let all beings be real

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