"Scenes from a Marriage" by Galen Green (1978)

SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE



Tonight, it rains on our love.
But you’re still the one I’m dreaming of.
On a boat bound for India,
I look out into the rain and see you
Telling me that night is our future.
But I’m stuck in this prison and dying of thirst.
Of all possible worlds, this must be the worst.
Tonight, it rains on our summer interlude.
We’re out of love and out of food.
I look at photographs of waiting women,
As I sit in the porch swing, dreamin’ of swimmin’
And the night comes down like sawdust and tinsel.

The night whispers a lesson in love.
I lie below; you drift above,
As we journey into autumn.
You say things bounce when they hit the bottom.
I look into the face of the magician.
I dream of the smiles of a summer night.
They remind me of the winter light
that glimmers from the seventh seal.
Tonight, I don’t know how to feel.
You talk about picking wild strawberries.
Are these the nights that every man marries?
I look at your face now as through a glass darkly.

Tonight, you’re so close to my life.
Can a man see the world through the eyes of his wife?
I listen to you sing about the crisis in our virgin spring.
The night in your song is your persona.
I look into the devil’s eye.
You look out the screen door and ask me why
The raining darkness is so full of silence.
I reply it’s a matter of circumstance.
Tonight, it rains on our summer interlude.
We’re out of love and we’re out of food.
As the summer rain plays an autumn sonata.

Tonight, it rains on our love.
But you’re still the one I’m dreaming of.
I dream of the smiles of a summer night.
They remind me of the winter light
That leads us into the hour of the wolf.
You speak of the touch and the shame
And of letting our mad love grow tame.
I can almost see you face to face
In the silver lines these raindrops trace.
Our love has become a serpent’s egg.
You touch the serpent between my legs,
And the night around us hatches our cries and whispers.



Words and Music by Galen Green c 1978