Careful Love

You pass beneath my window When the evening starts to blue With your collar turned against the rain Like rain was made for you You never take the shortcut You never cross too soon You stop beside the bakery sign And check the rising moon I know these little mercies I know the shape they make The way a life becomes a song When someone stays awake And I don’t ask for much, love Only the ordinary part A coat, a key, a tired smile A place inside your heart Come home to me In the old soft way Leave the world at the edge of the day Come close to me Though you pass on by I keep your shadow warm When the lamps go high I have loved you quiet I have loved you long I have made your footsteps Into something like a song You buy the paper Fridays Though you never read page three You fold it under your left arm So carefully, to me You always pause at number nine Where the pavement dips with rain And once you laughed at nothing there I’ve kept that laugh for days There’s kindness in your shoulders There’s sorrow in your shoes There’s a tenderness you carry Like a thing you didn’t choose And I could be the answer If answers came like light If waiting made a doorway If wanting made it right Come home to me In the old soft way Leave the world at the edge of the day Come close to me Though you pass on by I keep your shadow warm When the lamps go high I have loved you quiet I have loved you long I have made your footsteps Into something like a song I know the blue cup in your kitchen I know the lamp beside your chair I know you close the curtains But not before the stair I know you eat your dinner standing When the day has been unkind I know you touch the glass sometimes As if there’s someone on your mind And I forgive the little distance And I forgive the locked front door Some loves are made of patience Some are made of wanting more Tonight the rain is silver Tonight the street is clean Tonight you turn your face up Almost looking where I’ve been And I almost say your name out loud And I almost let you see The life I built around you Looking back at me Come home to me In the old soft way Leave the world at the edge of the day Come close to me Though you pass on by I keep your shadow warm When the lamps go high I have loved you quiet I have loved you long I have made your footsteps Into something like a song You pass beneath my window When the evening starts to blue And I have loved you all this time For a man who never knew