That said, I hope that you can visualize this actually being performed. I'm thinking about performing it in front of a small audience of LGBT youth that are around my age. That is... if I can memorize it. I'm ever hopeful though. ^^;
The Words Between
(signing “I love you”)
That was one of the first things that you taught me,
Holding my hand as you taught me to see
The words that were caught in your throat
Held back by a condition you couldn’t help.
Though you did not ask to not speak,
What you did ask for was for my love.
And as you stood before me demanding it
I was still trying to find some understanding,
Having been born in a world where my love, our love,
Would be denied by those who don’t understand,
Who live in the fear of a woman loving woman.
Yet despite the fear I held in my heart,
I went along and started something
That my soul knew better than I.
It had been a simple hand gesture then,
But it means all the more to me now than it did when
You had begun teaching me to sign-
Though, of course, I would sometimes fail to understand
Just so that you would touch and teach my hands,
And we would end up forgetting much of what we were doing.
And though I could not know the words you told me at times
I knew your eyes, and I knew your touch-
You loved me more than I knew I could ever love.
And as I would hold you in the middle of the night
Listening to the sound of your heart,
I found myself at peace, yearning to hear your life
For the rest of my days.
It had been a simple hand gesture then to,
But I had been the one to sign them, though poorly
Will you marry me? (signing it as well)
I had no ring, but I had my heart to give.
And you had answered so fast that I couldn’t see-
But your lips gave me the answer that I wanted.
Now flash forward through the months that came between,
Disappearing like sand through fingers,
And I find myself sitting alone in our bed.
I am here alone and you are… (signing "dead" several times)
Even now I can’t say the words,
But I can sign them just fine.
I still love you. (signing it)
And I always will. (signing as well)
That was one of the first things that you taught me,
Holding my hand as you taught me to see
The words that were caught in your throat
Held back by a condition you couldn’t help.
Though you did not ask to not speak,
What you did ask for was for my love.
And as you stood before me demanding it
I was still trying to find some understanding,
Having been born in a world where my love, our love,
Would be denied by those who don’t understand,
Who live in the fear of a woman loving woman.
Yet despite the fear I held in my heart,
I went along and started something
That my soul knew better than I.
It had been a simple hand gesture then,
But it means all the more to me now than it did when
You had begun teaching me to sign-
Though, of course, I would sometimes fail to understand
Just so that you would touch and teach my hands,
And we would end up forgetting much of what we were doing.
And though I could not know the words you told me at times
I knew your eyes, and I knew your touch-
You loved me more than I knew I could ever love.
And as I would hold you in the middle of the night
Listening to the sound of your heart,
I found myself at peace, yearning to hear your life
For the rest of my days.
It had been a simple hand gesture then to,
But I had been the one to sign them, though poorly
Will you marry me? (signing it as well)
I had no ring, but I had my heart to give.
And you had answered so fast that I couldn’t see-
But your lips gave me the answer that I wanted.
Now flash forward through the months that came between,
Disappearing like sand through fingers,
And I find myself sitting alone in our bed.
I am here alone and you are… (signing "dead" several times)
Even now I can’t say the words,
But I can sign them just fine.
I still love you. (signing it)
And I always will. (signing as well)
