Jessie Todd lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and works as a labor and delivery nurse by night and an amateur essayist by day. She has an English degree from Grove City College, and worked as a middle school English teacher at Evangelical Christian Academy in Madrid, Spain for several years before getting her nursing degree. She authors a newsletter called The Melancholy Monthly, and you can find those newsletters and her other work at themelancholymonthly.wordpress.com. (Coming Soon) She enjoys spending her free time walking and running through the Cuyahoga National Park, cooking any and all things autumnal, and caring for her many house plants.

Only the Lover Sings

by Matthew Clark

You’ve never met a liar
You’ve only met the lie that they put forth
There ain’t no soul more lonely
Until you tell the truth you can’t be touched
And I wanna be touched,
I wanna be touched

CHORUS
Only the lover sings
Only the one who dares to
look you full-on in the face
Finds out the shocking good news

I learned a terrible habit
I speed away when the red light says to stay
And when the green light’s flashing
I go to sleep to keep the light at bay

But I wanna wake up

CHORUS
BRIDGE
What will you find if you look into those eyes?
It’s hard to believe
but maybe you’re in for a surprise

I feel a new song coming
Swinging like a blade that cuts through fear
I don’t owe jack to confusion
Now love has come and made himself so clear

And I wanna trust
I wanna be touched
I wanna wake up
I wanna trust

©2022 Matthew Clark, Path in the Pines Music, ASCAP