Sometimes when I allow myself to think about it, I feel guilty when I focus on poetry rather than on the political and environmental disasters I see happening around me. When I feel that way, though, I try to listen to Bruce Cockburn’s "Lovers in a Dangerous Time."
Don’t the hours grow shorter as the days go by
You never get to stop and open your eyes
One day you’re waiting for the sky to fall
The next you’re dazzled by the beauty of it all
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
These fragile bodies of touch and taste
This vibrant skin — this hair like lace
Spirits open to the thrust of grace
Never a breath you can afford to waste
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Sometimes you’re made to feel as if your love’s a crime —
But nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight —
Got to kick at the darkness ’til it bleeds daylight
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
And we’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
The saddest part of all this is that I may well be dead before this "War on Evil" is finished. I can’t afford to ignore those things I love the most and simply focus on the war and the environment until the problems are solved.
I guess I just have to remember that every moment spent on those things I love is just that more precious because of the times.