My Second Thoughts

Some of them are people
Some of them are feelings or memories of past things
And some of them are just things

Some of them are the people that we were born instead of
The ones who missed out because of chance meetings at random times
Between the parents and the grandparents that we know

The ones who had lives before us that we forget to ask about

They’re the ones who were left behind by last minute decisions
They’re the ones who were left behind by last minute decisions
Missed trains or one more drinks or one less drinks
They’re the ones who were so close that we can feel them even now
Everywhere we go

But there are other ghosts too
There are other ghosts too

The people that we loved, but we didn’t really know
Or we knew them too late
The people that we loved who couldn’t love us back
Or who loved us back too late

And then there’s the other ones
The ones who loved us even beyond the point where we failed them
Even beyond the point where we gave them no reason to love us

And the other loves
The secret ones
The ones that never took hold because of wrong places or wrong times
Or just wrong somethings

They spawn a whole new generation of ghosts
And they are ghosts too
They’re never quite alive and they’re never quite dead
But they are real
They last and they endure

They live in the tiny moments –
Accidental touches and the joys of looking
The joys of being close
The joys of being close

And they live in our eyes – in the hoping and the wishing
And they die in our hearts – with the knowing and the hurting
But they are real loves
They last and they endure

And who’s to say
That secret loves are not the deepest loves of all

And though they live in our eyes
And they die in our hearts
Who’s to say