I Wrote This
I wrote this on 14 February 2000. The date stuck to my mind because it was my first day on the new job and it was raining heavily so I could not leave the office as soon as I wanted to. Stuck in the darkened hallways with a pen and paper, it was inevitable words would spill onto those pages.
A few years later I turned the poem into a song. When I think about how I was feeling when I wrote this, the song is probably a more accurate, honest reflection of that night. Perhaps because of structure of the melody, I had no room to muck around and had to say it the way it was.
Here they are, the poem in its original form and the reworked version for the song.
I Wrote This, The Poem
I wrote this on Valentine’s Day
There is no window in my small office corner
There is no window so I can’t see what’s up
with the rest of the world
Just me and my chugging computer playing
Ripped off MP3s illegally downloaded from the Internet
And the endless ringing of the telephone
If I listen carefully I am sure I can hear
The sounds of merry laughter
as lovers walk hand in hand
And if I breathe slowly I am sure I can
Smell the heady perfume of roses as lovers
Exchange flowers and chocolate covered kisses
But I don’t listen
And I breathe like the wild tongue of fire
Swift and unforgiving
It’s just another ordinary day
I wrote this on Valentine’s Day
I don’t want to think but flashes of you keep stealing my vision
I wish I was Jewel and I had written Foolish Games for you
But there was no song about rain and heartache
that danced through my head
Only echoes of thoughts that I cannot understand
Wait, it says, and you shall see the meaning of it all
But I don’t wait and see
Just another 24 hours of breathing in and out
I wrote this on Valentine’s Day
The young girl at the corner tried to sell me overpriced flowers
It’s for your sweetheart she said and I laughed
People are dying and babies are being born
Flowers are nice but they don’t stop
people from dying
And babies from being born
I am sure if I stop laughing I can hear
someone’s heart breaking and
Someone’s eyes crying
And if I turn slowly I am sure I can see you
trying to outrun your misery
And pretend it’s just another day
But I don’t stop laughing and I don’t turn
Another day is passing
I wrote this on Valentines’ day
There’s so much to say yet words are never
Enough to say all that I want to say
I am sure if you look you can see
But I don’t know you if look
Or if you see
There is no window
I Wrote This, The Song
I wrote this on Valentine’s Day
There was no window
So I couldn’t look outside and see
What was up with the rest of the world
There was no window but I’m sure
If I’d closed my eyes
I could hear sweet nothings being whispered in the air
But I didn’t close my eyes
And I breathed like the wild tongue of fire
Swift and unforgiving
I wrote this as chocolate covered promises were made
And flowers could cure just anything
Didn’t need your reasons
I, I could hear my heart was crying
But if I’d turn I’d see
That there is life beyong being the half of one
Like this beautiful Valentine
At some point of time
I know it’s got to end
There is life beyond this jarring pain
Like this beautiful Valentine
This too, shall pass
I wrote this as rain fell gently on the ground
As lover walked by hand in hand
Everything was alright with the world
Except for the silent telephone
Reminded me that now you’re gone
I wrote this as your voice flooded my mind
But like this beautiful Valentine
This too, shall pass
We too, shall pass
