(The) Harvey Danger Database


Why I’m Lonely

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Lyrics

St. Leonard touched a Philistine
—a sacred tongue, a perfect rhyme—
but even he was “not much nourished by modern love”1

So I told her that everything she does is divine
and she replied with a blank expression
(an object lesson in making me feel benign)
Then whispered, “Independence and indifference
      are the wings which allow the heart to fly.”2

Feelings I have had too often
still no plan in place to soften the inevitable blow
(The rituals we know)
And with the right revolting piety of tone,
the word “freedom” can make you want to lock yourself
      in a deep dark dungeon.

But everybody follows pleasure
everybody gets somewhere
I swear: I wish I could be less aware…

Now it’s absolutely clear to me
that solitude is not the same as singularity
But that’s not why I’m lonely
No, that’s not why I’m lonely


  1. I’m not much nourished by modern love. — Leonard Cohen, “Queen Victoria” (Live Songs, 1973). 

  2. Verily, independence and indifference are the two wings which enable the soul to fly. — Inayat Khan, The Art of Being, II:X 

Quotes

SCN: I remember the first time we ever played “Why I’m Lonely,” looking at the person I wrote it about (same person most of KJV is about) at the Breakroom in 1997, opening for the first of many Posies reunions, and it seemed like we had broken through to a whole new language; lyrical references: St. Leonard Cohen, Inayat Khan (independence and indifference…).10A

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