20th & 21st November, 2006
Catch Rod live in December -
click here
|
|
Photo by
Edward Habib McKuen. ©2006 by Stanyan Audio Video Archives
A Thought for Today
Rain is only rain to some, but holy water to all lovers.
FROM the¨BOOKS
Inner Workings
I have seen you
when your smiles and frowns
were so tied up and intermingled
that none - not even you
could have said
with any sureness
what face you were giving
to the crowd.
I have walked with you to subways
when parting was difficult
and less than twenty minutes later
been with someone else
and loved you none the less.
I have spied on you
and looked accusingly,
when I, myself, knew well
that I was in the wrong.
I have wept for you,
about you
and one time with you.
I have shared your secrets
and kept private
secrets of my own.
I have fought with you
and over you,
loved you and disliked you
in equal parts
and at the same time.
I have thought
that I would die
if you failed to turn up
on some pre-selected night
and when you didn't -
wished I would.
I have loved you
never asking if I should.
I have trusted you
not caring if I could
or couldn't.
In company
with strangers or your friends
I have smiled and gone on smiling
when I thought no single smile
or grin
was yet left inside me.
If we were unhappy
with one the other
why shouldn't it be
just our concern.
I have watched you play
with other people's children
and felt they were our own.
I've heard you hum
some made-up tune at breakfast
and watched you killing time all day
while you awaited killing me at night.
I have lied to you
for no good reason.
I have troubled you
and even when I knew it
sometimes that didn't make me stop.
The things we do
in love's name
never stop surprising me.
I'm amazed that love
can live at all
through all the subterfuge,
pass through all the barricades,
stumble over all the obstacles
we construct and put up
in
its way.
That first seed
wherever planted
must have been a hearty strain.
Just now
what kind of passion
stirs inside me
I can't say.
I feel for you
and it's as much as love
but whether it's because
I feel you leaving,
slipping from me day by day
or because I need, depend on,
want just you
I have no way of knowing.
Our lives together
have become so knotted,
muddled up
that who's to say
where the heart ended
and habit started in to open up?
I love you - yes
but I don't mean for you
to know it.
-from "Moment to Moment"
Click
on the Stanyan House logo to buy Rod McKuen books, CD's and lots more
Click on the heart logo to
subscribe to the Rod McKuen mailing list
Catch Rod McKuen live!
Click on the links below for details of
concerts and appearances.
ROD McKUEN
CONCERTS
ROD
McKUEN APPEARANCES
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Monday
20 November
Mexican Revolution (Mexico)
Duane Altman o
Kaye Ballard o
Judy Canova o
June Christy o
Alistair Cooke o
Richard Dawson o Bo
Derek o
Chester Gould o
Richard Kegler o
Robert Kennedy o
Rene Kollo o
Leadbelly (Hudie Ledbetter) o
Richard Masur o
Estelle Parsons o
Maya Plisetskaya o
Emilio Pucci o
Dick Smothers o
Gene Tierney o
Judy Woodruff o
Sean Young
Tuesday
21 November
Troy Aikman o
Jim Bishop o
Tina Brown o
Vivian Blaine o
Bjork o
Vivian Blaine o
Joseph Campanella o
Tom Dorsaneo o
Coleman Hawkins o
Goldie Hawn o
Rick Lenz o
Laurence Luckinbill o
Lorna Luff o
Natalia Makarova o
Ralph Meeker o
Juliet Mills o
Stan Musial o
Franco Nero o
Eleanor Powell o
Jean Shepard o
Nicollette Sheridan o
Livingston Taylor o
Marlo Thomas o
Voltaire |
|
 |
|
There may be cosmic loneliness, but solitude is selective.
There are more shades of gray than there are black and white.
Solitude will reach you. Get ready for it, embrace it.
Without coming to terms with solitude you will never be a complete human being.
|
|
Postlude: Leaving Again 1
|
|
A phase of love
can be strung out
in such a way
that hate by contrast
sounds more beautiful.
Canaries do not sing love,
and the truest lovers
cannot always say love's name
but by their actions
they speak volumes
yet unpublished and
as yet not written down.
Love stings
when it should tingle
and leaves long scars
instead of
deep impressions.
Worst of all
for love gone wrong
there is no warranty
or bond to cover damage.
The guarantee
for finding sanity again
is finding love again
and giving over
to the new beloved
that one facet of yourself
you held back last time.
If it should happen to you
one more time,
and it will,
display your love
in all its Sunday clothes
for unless you go out
with your face held high
toward the sunlight
how are you to know?
-from "Moment to Moment"
"Moment to Moment" was first published by W.H. Allen in London in 1971. A
Revised Version was published by Cheval Books in 1972 & a completely revised edition
was published by Simon & Schuster in 1974 |
|
|
|
