That’s when my tears come undone,
rolling
softly down my cheeks.
That’s
when sorrow steals my tongue
an’ the
words my heart would speak.
Lois’s eyes closed, the
microphone just below her lips, the music pulsating around her. Her voice soft, feminine, sexual. Purl’s drumbeats behind her. The solid structure of Toby’s upright
bass. Bud’s mournful fiddle. And Frank’s amplified guitar. They
had changed the name of the band to the Tennessee Warblers.
That’s when
emotions go astray
as the
memories overcome
and all the
words get washed away
when my
tears come undone.
It
was a song Frank had written for her.
They hoped it would be the key to success. ‘Wish we could afford a steel guitar on this
part,’ thought Lois, as she did every time she performed the song. ‘Someday.’
She didn’t doubt it. They sounded
too good to fail. They were too cool,
too hip, too talented to remain on this circuit of small clubs and occasional
music festivals. Every night, she poured
her heart into that song. Frank had a
true talent for writing. The chorus
ended and the story-telling part began.
Lois’s voice grew huskier as it dipped into a lower register. She invested it with suffering, longing,
hope.
He moved back to town last year.
My greatest hope, my greatest fear.
But, the
world kept spinning ‘round
and the rain
keeps falling down.
I’m proud to
be another’s wife
as I go about my happy life
‘cept when I see him now and then
and dream of what might have been
She opened her eyes as Frank joined her vocally on the chorus, glancing across the small stage. He held the electric guitar skillfully in his hands. At the microphone he was self-assured, masculine, aloof. His suit glittered under the spotlight – as did her dress, pale blue with rhinestones and spangles. She looked out across the dance floor. She was above them all. She was in the light. They were in darkness. Frank had told her once – ‘There are two kinds of people in the world, babe. Those on the stage and those down below. Which do you want to be?’ he had asked her. She knew the answer then and now. Lois was right where she wanted to be. In her mind, she was where the others wanted her to be. She had a gift. Those people looked to her for comfort, hope, excitement, escape. It was her duty to be on that stage. If she still spoke of God, she would have said it was her God-given duty to sing to that crowd.
Sometimes, I pass him on the street.
I smile
every time we meet
but, there’s
a fire in my breast
that my
tongue dare not confess
and, of
course, the talk is small
if
we even talk at all.
I can’t say
what’s in my heart.
I know that
every time I start ...
She felt the familiar and thrilling rush of
power as they entered the chorus for the last time. The point where the momentum of the
instruments, the arrangement of the chords, the onrush of the melodic line, the
harmonic addition of Frank’s voice all combined to bring the song to a level of
emotional clout that transcended the ordinary, that created a few moments of
magic and went straight to the heart of anyone who was listening carefully.
That’s
when my tears come undone,
rolling
softly down my cheeks.
That’s
when sorrow steals my tongue
an’ the
words my heart would speak.
That’s when emotions go astray
as the
memories overcome
an’ all the
words get washed away
when my
tears come undone.
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