I Have Not Told Her

Johnny L.

i have not told her that i love her

i’m too afraid to make a scene

i have not told her that i love her

can never use the words i mean

but once upon a time

i could always find a rhyme

that would help me

say what it is i feel

now those days are gone

like some ancient parthenon

leaving fragments

of dust beneath my heel

but it’s nothing i can’t rationalize away

i have not told her that i love her

i’m much too awkward for romance

i have not told her that i love her

and now i’ll never get the chance

now i fill my head

with the things i should have said

and imagine

how life was supposed to be

i’m drifting through my days

in an alcoholic haze

wishing somehow

she’d come back home to me

is there nothing i can’t rationalize away?

i have not told her that i love her

i blame it on the circumstance

i have not told her that i love here

and now i’ll never get the chance