Deception

I came across this poem by Christopher Brennan sometime in the late 2000s, and a simple harmony progression formed in my head. The first iteration was a very simple piano piece (that even I could play live) to accompany spoken word. Out of spoken word came melodies; out of melodies, a duet.

The original text, however, wasn’t something I could fully get behind. That has to do with me being an over-thinker, and not being able to speak of moments as though they were eternity. So I introduced a little twist: when the lyrics say “I must love because I live”, I added something that is really important to me—“and you move me”.

To me, that means someone sees you and introduces new dynamics into your system: a fresh wind, an intimate connection that changes you forever. And while love usually doesn’t last that long, the change people create within you often does. So in the end, it’s all worth it—not because of love, but because of what it allows in you, and what you become for other people. I guess the cynic in me had to title the song “Deception”. But a worthy one.

Lyrics

Deception

[Verse 1]
If questions made us wiser, love would never dare
No eyes would linger, caught and burning there
If every feeling fit inside a perfect phrase
No lips would lose their way in twilight’s haze

[Prechorus]
So let the answers stay unfinished
Let the longing keep its light
Some things aren’t meant for solving
Only living through the night

[Chorus]
So don’t ask me for the “if” or “why”
Hold me closer while the hours fly
Even if we never reach the whole
It’s reason enough to want it, body and soul
I love you now—no need to prove
I must love because I live, and you move me (you move me)

[Verse 2]
If spirits weren’t tied down to skin and bone
If love could breathe unbroken, pure, alone
No aching chest would lean into the ache
No trembling would become the risk we take

[Prechorus]
But we are made of mortal weather
Flesh and dream and borrowed time
And ecstasy is chasing
What can’t ever be entirely mine

[Final Chorus]
So don’t ask me for the “if” or “why”
I love you now until I die
Even if the dream can’t be complete
I’ll chase it just to feel its heat
I love you now—no need to prove
I must love because I live
And life in me is what you give

[Outro]
No “if.” No “why.”
Just this—
Just now.