You and I (On the Other Side of the World)

Oh-ooh, it was always a marriage
From the moment that you stepped
Into my hallway, shy as anyone I've ever known
You choose what to believe in
In this flippant time there's no real reason not to
We wrote letters to each other as though addressing the ocean

That we stand before now, you in my old cardigan
And I in your blue jeans
And the light turned golden on the distant headlands
And the ocean, you and I on the other side of the world

Love, it is no mystery
It never has been
No, not to me
I love because I see

But we never got better, we never got to talking
We never figured out the questions, we got good at walking
Walking the streets
When it was too hot to eat
Walking in step, we can't help it

You remember in June, you showed up one day
With a small leather suitcase swaying your walk
And you stayed on with me late into the evening
Into all the years that have passed on since then
No certainty, no agreement
More intimate than I could imagine
But with space I cannot fathom
Like a song with so much silence
Or just like you in your defiance

You say you never questioned anything
You say you knew from the beginning

I ask for your hand in it, some infinite understanding
But I don't know nothing of what I am asking
I've no idea of what it will entail
I asked for your hand
Like it was too intimate to ask for your mind
Or to count on kindness
Like I count only on your presence
Like I don't count on nothing else

Oh, it was always a marriage
From the moment that you stepped into my hallway
Shy as anyone I'd ever known, curious and alone