Unrequited

(Words and music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album Unrequited © 2019

So
It has begun
The thread which draws one
To another
I see around your neck
And still bare
Your finger, unadorned
By the gold that I expect
To see there

And I
Hope it will find you tonight
And I
Hope you let it in your life
Somewhere
In-between the wrong and right
Somewhere
In-between the darkness and the light

It must come
A light from behind mountains
A roar beyond the heavens
A dead and lonely figure
Lying by the roadside
His hands still clutch the reins
The poison still flows in his veins

So
You two must wed
Pass the wine and the bread
Is this a celebration
Am I your guest of honor
Who humbly bequeaths
For your life together
A funeral wreath
Amen

And I
Hope it will find you tonight
And I
Hope you let it in your life
Somewhere
In-between the wrong and right
Somewhere
In-between the darkness and the light

It will come
Like saucers full of secrets
Like dark and secret treaties
When to my knees I’ll drop
My head bare on the block
No more mercy in the end
The funeral is for a friend

And the cold droplet
Drops unnoticed
Into the empty cup
I hold (I hold)
I hold (I hold)
I hold (I hold)
I hold…

(Words and music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album Unrequited © 2019

Benign
Comfortable
Undemanding
Reliable
Placid
Supportive
Reassuring
And accepting

And when you’re near her
You’re the odd man out
The thrill of a lifetime
Is never talked about
Hanging on her sentences
Drifting through the air
Publishing her sentiment
How little she really cares

Familiar
Trusted
Relaxed
Vanilla
Soothing
And so calm, calm
Even-keeled
And so bland

To awaken
From a slow dream state
Inconsequence is the only
Role you ever play
To victimize your ego
Upon a whitewashed stage
A low, solo performance
Retiring the page

Benign and comfortable
Placid and safe
Could you take her to the stars
If you weren’t so lost in space
Trusted, soothing
Nurturing and warm
You can’t catch her interest
By grabbing her arm

Just a piece of furniture
You’re easily thrown out
Slumber in your crypt
About the outcome, there’s no doubt
Docile is the friendship
That brings you to your knees
Fuels the inner storm
And kills you by degrees

Ah

(Words and music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album Unrequited © 2019

In your wake I feel lost
And so much less than empty
For your sake, at all costs
Or an excuse for pity

I would kneel, would bow myself
In humble hope for love
Which never was in my life
And never will come

When the answer yields no ending
Lie in truth from the beginning
When I search for meaning I find nothing
This means nothing to you

So I drift, drift through the day
Thinking how I bore you
And the gift far away
Pretends to ignore you

As the dim, wish-romance
Slowly starts to fall
And the slim, fading chance
Has no chance at all

From the softness of your hair
Far from hands which hunger there
Wheel around to find I stare at nothing, oh
This is nothing to you

In your wake I follow
And I see no, I see no end
To the fake and hollow
Role of a friend

So the sea will cover me
And take me from you
And I will sink until
I vanish from view

This means nothing to you
I know

(Words and music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album Unrequited © 2019

Not as a flower
Sprayed in fine mist
Nor as an idol
In fiery tribute
To fallen warriors
Or blinded men
Do you appear
Before me tonight

With a scythe in your hands
Tell me, is it warm
Will its bite be as sweet
And gentle as you are

What do you feel
When you realize
The dream’s not real?
It was only lies
And when she says to me
“What has awakened you
Anything I can do
To make it up to you?”
You can only hide
In that lie

When you rest
Whenever you find
Yourself at peace
Or in bed
What thoughts run
Inside of you
To lull you into an
Elusive sleep

As elusive as the man who
Loved you from afar
A union as sweet
As gentle as you are

(Words by Todd Whisler, music by Todd Whisler & Leyth Mulla)
Taken from the album Unrequited © 2019

She doesn’t say a word
The ghost who’s sitting next to me
Clad in a gown
Of ups and downs
And lost opportunity

I hear her voice in tow
The ghost who sits behind me
Says, “It won’t last
The storm will pass.”
I listen disbelievingly

In the rain
A break in Spring
A lifetime ago
I said the words
That can’t be taken back
Once they have been let go
Words I regret
And won’t forget
As she’s running away from me

I’ve seen her face before
The ghost who’s right in front of me
Turned to one side
Beautiful bride
An image of what might have been

She’s everywhere I go
The ghost who lives inside of me
She was my friend
But friendships end
From choices made too hastily

In the rain
A break in Spring
A lifetime ago
I said the words
That can’t be taken back
Once they have been let go
I see too late
It’s a mistake
I call her name
She’s still running away from me

Running away from me

(Words and music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album Unrequited © 2019

And I am
Only a man
Yes, I am
The only man
Passing by invisibly
Afraid to take your hand
I am
The only man
Who ever loved you

(Words by Todd Whisler, music by Todd Whisler & Don Currie)
Taken from the album Unrequited © 2019

Once, long ago, lived a man in a cage
His life was in shambles as he took center stage
A deserted actor who forgot his part
Was handed a blade to stick in his heart

Troubled by one whom he knew in his youth
He looked for a lie but only found truth
That love couldn’t touch him and never came near
For beauty and comfort were just what he feared

‘Till one day he met her and took her inside
To show her the place where he’d nearly died
She listened astonished to hear such a tale
Then laughingly led him back to his jail

The winter’s tale

(Words by Todd Whisler, music by Todd Whisler & Don Currie)
Taken from the album Unrequited © 2019

So barren, the desert
Of faces and names
Filling dead time
Time and again
So heavy the hour
My face in the glass
The face, like a breath,
Quickly is passed

And it comes again
The actor pretends
And it comes again
It will never end
And it comes again
And so on, again
And so on, again

So clearly the words
Hang in the air
Nobody listens
For nobody cares
So fragile my feelings
Once more exposed
The infant, it ages
But doesn’t grow

And again the nighttime comes
There, in my head
Again the nighttime comes
The click of her heels
Again the nighttime comes
And so on, again
And so on, again

So perfect, the image
So final the choice
So barren the desert
So shaky, my voice, yeah

So barren, the desert
So final the choice
So barren the desert
So shaky, my voice

(Words by Todd Whisler, music by Todd Whisler & Leyth Mulla)
Taken from the album Unrequited © 2019

I met her the springtime
When I was twenty-four
Gripped by a fever
I’d never known before
She didn’t want to know me
She didn’t want my kiss
Standing on the edge
I told myself this

Hope springs eternal
Hope springs eternal
Hope springs eternal
Hope springs eternal

To qualify perfection
Start with the eyes
And a smile so warm and bright
It cannot be denied

It wasn’t ‘till she showed me
She would be his bride
That I found the strength
To turn back the tide

I had to learn to love her less
A little more each day
I had to hide from my feelings
Until they went away

I had to walk the lonely path
That lay in front of me
Until I started not to feel
Anything, anything

And I began to love her less
A little more each day
And I began to die inside
It started to fade

I began to walk the path
As far as I could see
Until I started not to feel
Anything, anything

I learned to love her less
Finally not at all
I shut down my heart
So it would break no more
Now I wander through this life
The only one I know
Fighting my anger
And emptiness alone

Hope springs eternal
Hope springs eternal
Hope springs eternal
Hope springs eternal

What does it all mean?

(Words by Todd Whisler, music by Todd Whisler & Leyth Mulla)
Taken from the album Unrequited © 2019

Learn to forget
Learn to forgive
Stop dying for love
And start to live

(Words and music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album Unrequited © 2019

In cold winter’s morning
A lone snowflake’s fall
Bathing in sunlight
Blind to her call

It seems to take refuge
There on the ground
Fleeing from pity
Or death in her palm

And in the amber light of day
The mourning of loss
Fall, all of you angels
Like tears on the cross
Of my love for her
Which never will be
Seen or returned
By her to me

In cold winter’s morning
An icicle man
On a street corner
The wind at his back
Could shatter completely
Exposed to the sound
Of the word’s meaning that
He still hasn’t found

And in the hazel light of evening
The wind a soft moan
Concealed and leaning
Below the window
Is his hand to her
So soft on her face
Yearning in my turn
To banish the ache

Of the cold winter’s morning
Of the cold winter’s morning
Of the cold winter’s morning
Of the cold winter’s morning
Of the cold…

(Words and music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album Unrequited © 2019

I have felt heat and bitter cold
From memories now ten years old
Denying me all I could hold dear
Keeping me imprisoned here

But I must reach you, my precious child
To share the gift that gives me life
To see the sun set in your eyes
As near to death as to life

Carrying anger from younger years
Born of betrayal and hidden tears
I cannot bury the living hell
And so once again I fail myself

But I must reach you, my precious child
To share the gift that gives me life
To see the sun set in your eyes
As near to death as to life

And as the sunlight slowly dies
The evening lives now as do I
To see the sun set in your eyes
So near to death and so far from life

But I must reach you, my precious child
To share the gift that gives me life
To see the sun set in your eyes
As near to death as to life