All I Ever Wanted

(album: All At Once - 2011)

I can only say these things to you while you're sleeping.
I hear the hum from the wires, the sounds of the morning creeping.
I lie awake and pretend, you can hear me.

You tell me that you're scared that you're turning into your mother.
I feel myself turning into my father.
We could lie to each other like they do and say we're so happy.
It's easy when you're young and you still want it so badly.

And I feel my heart pounding
And I think I might scream.

I can tell you that you're all I've ever wanted, dear
I can utter every word you'd ever hope to hear.
I shudder when I think that I might not be here forever, forever, forever.

All the nights you whisper like a ghost and you look so shaken
You're so quiet and small and you tell me you want to be taken.
I just never think of you as the kind of girl who would say that
You suddenly seem like some faceless thing in my grasp.

Your eyes so wide, your face aglow,
It's the face of someone I don't know.

I can tell you that you're all I've ever wanted, dear
I can utter every word you'd ever hope to hear.
I shudder when I think that I might not be here forever, forever, forever.

All I can think is that it must be a kind of rebellion,
To arm your fears like soldiers and slay them.

I can tell you that you're all I've ever wanted, dear
Through the din of your breathing while you're sleeping here,
You wake and you ask me if I'm gonna be here forever, forever, forever.

Your face so twisted and your eyes alight,
I want to tell you I can change it when you cry at night,
But I'd be lying.
Love is defying.