Mary Chapin Carpenter: This Is Love

(Mary Chapin Carpenter)

If you ever need to hear a voice in the middle of the night
When it seems so black outside that you can't remember
Light ever shone on you or the ones you love in this or another lifetime

And the voice you need to hear is the true and the trusted kind, with a soft
Familiar rhythm in these swirling, unsure times, when the waves are lapping in
And you're not sure you can swim, well here's the lifeline

If you ever need to feel a hand take up your own
When you least expect but want it more than you've ever known
Baby, here's that hand, and baby's here's my voice that's calling

This is love, all that ever was and will be
This is love

If you ever need some proof that time can heal your wounds, just step
Inside my heart and walk around these rooms; where the shadows used to be,
You can feel as well as see how peace can hover

Time's been here to fix what's broken with its power and the love that
Smashed us both to bits spent its last few hours calling out your name,
And I thought, this is the kind of pain from which we don't recover

But I'm standing here now with my heart held out to you
You would have thought a miracle was all that got us through
Well baby, all I know, all I know is I'm still standing

And this is love, all that ever was and will be
This is love, standing up for you baby, standing up for me
And I see you still and there's this catch in my throat;
And I just swallow hard till it leaves me
There's nothing in this world that can change what we know
Still I know I am here if you ever need me

And this is love
If you ever think of me, let it be around twilight, when the world has
Settled down, and the last round of sunlight is waning in the sky as you
Sit and watch the night descending

A car will pass out front with lovers at the wheel, a dog will bark out
Back, and children's voices peal over and under the air, you've been there,
Lost in the remembering

If you ever wish for things that are only in the past
Just remember that the wrong things aren't supposed to last
Baby, it's over and done, the rest is gonna come when you let it

And this is love, all that ever was and will be
This is love, when you let it baby, if you let it now
This is love, all that ever was and can be
This is love