If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
~Vincent Van GoghIt's all been said better before. If I thought I had to say it better than anybody else, I'd never start. Better or worse is immaterial. The thing is that it has to be said; by me; ontologically. We each have to say it, to say it our own way. Not of our own will, but as it comes out through us. Good or bad, great or little: that isn't what human creation is about. It is that we have to try; to put it down in pigment, or words, or musical notations, or we die.
~ Madeleine L'Engle, A Circle of Quiet
Why does she sing her sad songs for me?
I'm not the one to tenderly bring her soft sympathy.
I've just begun to see my way clear and it's plain if I stop I will fall.
I can lay down a tear for her pain, just a tear and that's all.
What does she want me to do?
She says that she knows that moments are rare, I suppose that it's true.
Then on she goes to say I don't care and she knows that I do.
Maybe she just has to sing for the sake of the song.
Who do I think that I am to decide that she's wrong?
She'd like to think that I'm cruel but she knows that's a lie,
for I would be no more than a tool if I allowed her to cry all over me.
My sorrow is real even though I can't change my plans.
If she could see how I feel then I know that she'd understand.
Does she actually think I'm to blame?
Does she really be
lieve that some word of mine could relieve all her pain?
Can't she see that she grieves just because she's been blindly deceived by her shame?
Maybe she just has to sing for the sake of the song.
Who do I think that I am to decide that she's wrong?
Nothing’s what it seems.
Why does she sing her sad songs for me?
I'm not the one to tenderly bring her soft sympathy.
I've just begun to see my way clear and it's plain if I stop I will fall.
I can lay down a tear for her pain, just a tear and that's all.
What does she want me to do?
She says that she knows that moments are rare, I suppose that it's true.
Then on she goes to say I don't care and she knows that I do.
Maybe she just has to sing for the sake of the song.
Who do I think that I am to decide that she's wrong?
She'd like to think that I'm cruel but she knows that's a lie,
for I would be no more than a tool if I allowed her to cry all over me.
My sorrow is real even though I can't change my plans.
If she could see how I feel then I know that she'd understand.
Does she actually think I'm to blame?
Does she really be
lieve that some word of mine could relieve all her pain?Can't she see that she grieves just because she's been blindly deceived by her shame?
Maybe she just has to sing for the sake of the song.
Who do I think that I am to decide that she's wrong?
Nothing’s what it seems.
Maybe she'll start someday to realize, if she abandons her dreams,
then all the words she can say are only lies.
When will she see that to gain is only to lose?
All that she offers me are her chains, I got to refuse.
It's only to herself that she's lied.
She likes to pretend there's something that she should defend with her pride.
I don't intend to stand here and be the friend from whom she must hide.
Maybe she just has to sing for the sake of the song.
Who do I think that I am to decide that she's wrong?
~ Townes Van Zandt
When will she see that to gain is only to lose?
All that she offers me are her chains, I got to refuse.
It's only to herself that she's lied.
She likes to pretend there's something that she should defend with her pride.
I don't intend to stand here and be the friend from whom she must hide.
Maybe she just has to sing for the sake of the song.
Who do I think that I am to decide that she's wrong?
~ Townes Van Zandt
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