A WHISPER OF VOWS
Inspired by the theme song from the 1970 film Love Story*
Original vocal version by Andy Williams
Lyrics by Carl Sigman: "Where do I begin, to tell the story of how great a love can be..."
Where do I begin, to tell how love might bleed;
For peace is bought where severed truths increase.
I sing no truce, nor pastoral disguise,
But bonds that bloom where certainty must die.
Before the vow, the world was clean and still,
Each name aligned with fate, each thought with will;
But love arrived—no guest, no gentle flame—
It broke the seal and would not state its name.
It asked no leave of creed, nor earthly law,
Yet made the soul confess what flesh must draw.
What oath can stand where touch itself proves false,
And truth learns fear within the heart’s own vaults?
I loved—and law grew thin as winter air;
The right grew frail, the wrong grew hard to bear.
What once was sure now trembled into choice,
And choice grew teeth and spoke in lover’s voice.
O fatal grace, that gives by taking more,
That crowns the beggar king, yet scars the door;
Each kiss annulled by claim, each breath a debt,
No conscience can escape what hearts beget.
Here lies the break no blessing can amend,
Where joined souls cleave yet dare not fully mend.
Love keeps its name—though selves are torn apart—
Union inscribes the cost upon the heart.
Each heartbeat tolled like bells for cities lost,
Each vow exacted more than it had cost.
O love, thou tyrant robed in bridal light,
Who grants us wings, then teaches us their weight.
I write, yet feel the letters split my hand,
The poet burns inside the very phrase,
A moth unlearning reverence for the blaze.
Let none believe this tale is safely told,
Or that its moral can be neatly sold.
Where love begins, the universe must bend,
And something holy shatters at the end.
Yet still I stand, though fractured, scorched, and sworn,
If this be doom, then let it write my name—
What is a life untouched by such a flame?
Where love begins, all certainties depart—
And Fate itself learns fear inside the heart.
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