Zero Sum Love Ain’t Gonna Cut It
I think it’s time
for us to stop
Thinking of love
in terms we’re taught:
Like some commodity
we’ve bought,
it’s all just
loss and gain.
As if it were
somehow,
some way,
Some kind of cosmic
Zero sum game.
And if love and life
were found to be
Some way, somehow,
Separate things,
Then you could
take a knife
(And I’m sure you see,
Completely metaphorically)
And cut off your own wings
But the truth is love
Is the only thing
That truly
Makes us alive.
Without it we might
Still exist, but
There’s no way
We can thrive
So let’s pack our sorrows
Like no tomorrows
And put ‘em in
That old kit bag,
Let’s fly the coop
And go cruise the Loop
And find someone to drag.
Cos’ today’s tomorrow
And we needn’t borrow
Any more of our old pain.
To the future look
Let’s throw out that book
And Carpe that old Diem
Cos’ we’re here and now
And I don’t know how
We can turn this hurt around;
But we need to learn, and learn it fast,
Cos’ I know that now will never last
if we’re stuck and haunted
ever daunted
In and by the past
If we live in fear
We won’t see or hear
The wonders
Future casts;
So let’s try to play,
Right here, today,
And slowly make some haste
Right here, right now,
This second, today
We need to learn
Somehow
Some way
To love again
And laugh, and win
There’s no more time
To waste
The Screwtop Letters 