Power

You carry me around
Like loose change jingle-jangling
At the bottom of your bag
You don't seem to feel it though
As you swing down the street
Walking that unique birthday-candle glow.

In broad daylight
In broad daylight.

And you don't even know
The way I love you.

You never knew power, did you?
You thought that power was in a strong arm
People pass the laws and gold
Tsunamis and mushroom clouds.

Oh babe that's nothing.

You think it's kind of sweet
The stammer and the tremble in my voice
But don't mistake it for weakness
Or some kind of incompleteness
'Cause round about now
I can feel it tingle-tangling
It's coiled up inside me
And it's ready to blow.

You never knew power, did you?
Thought it fizzed in the overhead lines
Burning steel and bone to carbon
A Saturn-5 in a vertical climb.

You never knew power, did you?
Thought it roared like Niagara Falls
Or melted stone under volcanoes
Earthquake, thunder, lightning, storms.

The way I love you
Is something you don't understand.

The way I love you
Took more than I could imagine, even now
You never knew power
All the time you felt so strong.

But now you can't function
Awake or asleep
As the meaningless world falls away from your feet
And the Universe ceases its light-speed retreat
Life was sweet in the meteor shower
Of the star-high divine
When you sparkled and fell
From heaven to hell.

And ten years grinding by in every hour
In every hour
I know all about power.

Listen to the rain
You might feel a tremble
You might feel it.