MY SONG UNSUNG

–

I’ve played my songs on countless shores

in quiet shade of sycamores

All my pain was overcome

by heart-torn lyric and a strum

When I was young

I wrote my song unsung

Experience, it felt so cold

but music was my friend

I lived wearing a blindfold

Yet with lyrics I didn’t pretend

Through the years, when life was hard

my heart became numb and scarred

All my joy had gone away

and with sadness I couldn’t play

I was still young

I left my song unsung

Loneliness had left a hole

for years I made no sound

‘til music came to soothe my soul

and to turn my life around

Dreams were fuel that kept me strong

My heart was healed because of song

I learned that I could sing and then

I discovered joy again

I found that I had faith inside

my songs returned; they had not died

And though I was no longer young

Look what my music had brung

I sang my song unsung

I sang my song unsung

This page was from a book of lyrics created for a calligraphy class assignment in 1981.

In 1980, I composed a very simple love song. It only had two stanzas and was unfinished. I named it “This Song Unsung.” I clearly fantasized about falling in love, as evidenced from a diary entry around that time.

My simple song truly went unsung and for thirty years it was a distant memory.

When I began playing my guitar again in 2010, I eventually expanded “This Song Unsung” and it was renamed “Her Song Unsung.” This time, the lyrics were about rediscovering music and joy that translated to saving my lonely marriage. The last two lines went: “In his arms she did belong, her life became her love song.”

Unfortunately, what I projected did not fit my reality and It was very awkward for me to sing “Her Song Unsung” because it wasn’t honest. Also, writing in third person was very detached.

A few years later, I rewrote the lyrics to fit my life and the new title was “My Song Unsung.”

I am so grateful that I was finally able to do justice to this old song of mine. It’s no longer “unsung!”

More recordings, videos and stories can be found at this link: MY SONG UNSUNG