I give you this smile

I give you this smile. It’s all of me. It’s everything that’s I.

“I will not deny my humanity with you” I will not pass you by.

I’ve been thinking, thinking long,  hard and well

I’ve been listening, listening to myself to tell

I’ve been all ears for my ideas and my ideals,

I’ve been cleaning house and cooking Spanish meals.

I give you this smile. It’s all of me. It’s everything that’s I.

“I will not deny my humanity with you” I will not pass you by.

And too I’ve been listening to Mother Maya’s song

And all this time, I’d been getting it wrong.

Well not entirely, hopeless wrong, but quite unable

To find my way, find my stall in the right stable.

I just couldn’t bring myself to love, to love myself, to love,

To love myself, to love me first and and me above

So that, in loving myself,  I might better love others

So that, in loving myself, that I would love my brothers

And sisters, the girlfriends, the boss and the workmate

All the people who I thought of with fists of hate.

I give you this smile. It’s all of me. It’s everything that’s I.

“I will not deny my humanity with you” I will not pass you by.

I’ve been living a lie. Yes, that’s right, a stupid, long, relentless lie.

I’ve been too easy set and tuned to laugh and too afraid to cry.

 

But like all things lost, we look in all the wrong places

Like all things lost, we look not with our eyes, but with our faces

And our eyes look at the locations and not for the lost thing

So we don’t see the wallet, the phone or the key ring.

 

Then, we doubt ourselves and we go and look in the same places.

We go back there again and just look with our faces.

But when we look with our hearts, when we open our eyes

We finally see where we’ve hidden the prize.

I give you this smile. It’s all of me. It’s everything that’s I.

“I will not deny my humanity with you” I will not pass you by.

Like all things lost, they hide where we least suspect

Like all things lost, they don’t show themselves when we expect

Instead they’ll be in the right place – Look there! There all along. 

And when you find them, it’s like a loud clanging gong.

We find the thing we’ve been looking for right there in our hand

We find the thing we’ve been looking for, just as we understand.

All this time I’ve been trying to find a place to fit in and belong

All this time, it was here, where I am, all along.

I give you this smile. It’s all of me. It’s everything that’s I.

“I will not deny my humanity with you” I will not pass you by.

To be lost is fine if one accepts one’s lost-ness, if one accepts it’s just,

It’s the yearning to be found and not knowing who to trust.

It’s the yearning to be found and not knowing where to look,

Like your wearing gloves and trying to put a worm on a hook. 

It’s OK to be lost. It’s not the lost-ness that’s the issue by far

You just have to remember, that you are where you are.

I give you this smile. It’s all of me. It’s everything that’s I.

“I will not deny my humanity with you” I will not pass you by.

I give you this smile.