What You Want

Can't turn it off. I posted the previous piece and meant to go to sleep. Instead, the following came, driven by the final scene in the play "The Trail of Dreams." It took us two-and-a-half hours and twenty actors to say it there--let's see if one guy can get it down to three minutes.

THE ANSWER

If you want love, you’ll get love.

If you want peace, you’ll get peace.

If you want children to cherish and dance with,

you’ll get all you can hold of these--

all you can hold of these.

If you want truth, you’ll get truth.

If you want friends, you’ll get friends.

If you want music as wild as the wind blows,

you’ll get songs that will never end--

songs that will never end.

   And when they ask you what you want,

   and you struggle to reply,

   it makes no dif’rence what you say,

   we have answered with our lives.

If you want sun, you’ll get sun.

If you want shade, you’ll get shade.

If you would sleep in the hills of the westlands,

you will rest and not be afraid--

rest and not be afraid.

If you want sand, you’ll get sand.

If you want sea, you’ll get sea.

You’ll get oceans of azure and greenglow,

and you’ll swim there, forever free--

you’ll swim forever free.

   And when they ask you what you want,

   and you struggle to reply,

   it makes no dif’rence what you say,

   we have answered with our lives.


If you want love, you'll get love.
If you want peace, you'll get peace.
If you want children to cherish and dance with,
you'll get all you can hold of these--
all you can hold of these.