a song contemplating Shel Silverstein's
Verse 1
There’s a payphone by the station wall,
where love once tried to call.
A man fed coins like rosary beads,
and prayed they’d save it all.
The rain was old, the street was dim,
and memory wore perfume.
He spoke her name into the wire,
and filled that lonely room.
Refrain
If Sylvia had answered,
the night might never end.
The past would lose its sorrow,
and tomorrow might pretend.
But the line was cold and endless,
and the years all came too soon -
If Sylvia had answered,
there’d be two hearts in that tune.
Verse 2
Her mother’s voice was trembling soft,
with manners made of stone.
She said, “She’s starting over now,
she’s better off alone.”
But oh, to see the curtain lift,
to hear her footsteps fall,
to feel her whisper down the line -
the sweetest sound of all.
Refrain
If Sylvia had answered,
the dawn would break in gold.
The train would wait an hour more,
the coffee wouldn’t go cold.
There’d be laughter in the leaving,
and love to hide the truth -
If Sylvia had answered,
she’d still be nineteen proof.
Bridge
They’d find a room above the tracks,
where silence hums like prayer.
He’d kiss the dust right off her hands,
and braid his promise there.
The walls would flake, the years would fade,
but time would bless their names.
Two sinners making hymns of hurt,
and living off the flames.
Refrain (soft)
If Sylvia had answered,
the night might never end.
The rain would write their story,
on glass that would not bend.
They’d dance beneath the static hum,
and make the moon their tune -
If Sylvia had answered,
love might’ve come too soon.
Final Verse / Outro
But her mother hung the phone up,
the rain kept on its vow.
He walked away with empty hands,
and nothing left but now.
And Sylvia - she married well,
a life of lace and plans,
but some nights when the wind calls home,
she hides her trembling hands.
Final Refrain (quiet, fading)
If Sylvia had answered,
the world might’ve stayed the same.
Love doesn’t die - it waits its turn,
and whispers through the rain.
GBS
2023
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