Messages Received
The Weakness In Me – Joan Armatrading – Walk Under Ladders 1981
I'm not the sort of person who falls
In and quickly out of love
But to you I gave my affection
Right from the start
I have a lover who loves me:
How could I break such a heart?
Yet still you gained my attention
Why do you come here
When you know I've got troubles enough?
Why do you call me
When you know I can't answer the phone?
Make me lie, when I don't want to
And make someone else some kind of an unknowin' fool
You make me stare, when I should not
Are you so strong or is all the weakness in me?
Why do you come here
And pretend to be just passing by?
But I need to see you,
And I mean to hold you
Tightly
Feeling guilty, worried,
Waking from tormented sleep
This old love has me bound
But this new love cuts deep
If I choose now, I'll lose out
One of you has to fall
But I need you, and you
Why do you come here
When you know I've got troubles enough?
Why do you call me
When you know I can't answer the phone?
Make me lie, when I don't want to
And make someone else some kind of an unknowin' fool
You make me stare, when I should not
Are you so strong or is all the weakness in me?
Why do you come here
And pretend to be just passing by?
But I need to see you,
And I mean to hold you
Tightly
Which is worse? Being the lover who loves me, or the me who loves? Ah! Parity in suffering!
Weakness is universal. We all have it for something or someone. “Why do you come here when you know I've got troubles enough?” Easy to answer — tormented sleep is also universal.
Sometimes you just stand on the corner, or go to the bookstore and you hope that you'll get one more glimpse. Or maybe you'll have just missed that someone and then you can smell their aroma, knowing they were only just here. And that glancing blow is all it takes to deliver that warm glow in your core. It makes you forget all the tears, the heartache, the pain you caused and felt. And in that moment, it is perfection.
Sometimes you are the weak and sometimes you are the weakness.... Just keep on being. It's all any of us can do.
Always do the good thing in every scenario, you will never go astray. Never. Always practice kindness and eschew selfishness.
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