By Kenneth Stepp
Is this the title to a Willie Nelson song? As a matter of fact it is. I’ve listened to this song over that last number of years and not once did it move me in any way I can remember, until now. I read the lyrics. What a powerful song this is when applying the lyrics to my own life. I’ve known love, lost love, and lived with regret for so long. You see, this is a song about regret. It’s about you.
“ Maybe I didn’t love you
Quite as often as I could have”
I’m guilty. No maybe to it. I did not know what I had, I did not know what my actions would do to my future. To put it in words that are far more blunt than I’m comfortable with saying, I was so wrong and regret so much how I handled things back then. When I met you, I was lost, I was looking for something. To this day I’m unsure what that was.
“Maybe I didn’t treat you
Quite as good as I should have
If I made you feel second best
Girl I’m sorry I was blind”
I always treat others well, but was walking away really treating you well? I’m a deep thinker and can philosophically dissect that one another day. I made you second best, did I make you feel you were too? I’m certain I did. Willie’s regret, “girl I’m sorry, I was blind”, this is exactly the way I feel. I was so blind, I was so lost, and you found me, I can’t regret any more than I do.
“And maybe I didn’t hold you
All those lonely, lonely times
I guess I never told you
I’m so happy that you’re mine”
I was so happy. I had not felt loved in so long, It had been so long since I felt anyone cared or that I mattered to someone the way I did you. I never bragged about you to your face, I really stayed lost the entire time we were together. Vacillating from being lost in you and simply being lost. The day I walked out, pulling my suitcase on wheels behind me, I knew something momentous happened, I had no idea how momentous.
“Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time”
Had I known how important you would become in my life, I would have taken the time to say and do everything to let you know how much you meant to me. Hindsight is so clear, it’s a shame the present isn’t. These days all I can do is dwell on past mistakes and remember a time that changed my life. I remember you. I think of you every day.
“Tell me, tell me that your sweet love hasn’t died
Give me, give me one more chance
To keep you satisfied
I’ll keep you satisfied”
So what do I do? I’m a warrior and warriors never quit. I move forward, I’ll stand tall on the next taken hill, I’ll join the battle every day for love. I’ve learned from you, from us. Should I ever have love again I will never let it go, I will cherish the love I have and know it’s worth, I will allow no distractions, no memories, and no emotions to pull me away. Thank you so much for that.
“Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time
But you were always on my mind
You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind”
I’d like to encourage everyone to click the link below and actually read these words while he sings them.
