I wrote this after coming up with a set of rules for writing a story by structuring it around a song. I wrote the rules in a blog posting and wrote this story. I was told that the style of rules was similar to those employed by the Ouvroir de la Littérature Potentielle and as I seem to be in good company, I encourage you to get on and try it. The style here is odd because each lyric-delimited section is told from a different viewpoint, a different character. I hope you like it.
# It's a little bit funny this feeling inside # I'm not one of those who can easily hide
Their eyes met across a crowded ballroom. One the son of an upper-class businessman; the other a waiter earning barely enough to survive. The birthday boy should have felt happy but tonight he felt only the emptiness in his heart. Joshua had been anxiously looking for any escape from the monotony of listening to his father's business associates' boring chatter. His eyes eventually settled on one of the waiters who was looking his way. He smiled, Joshua's heart soared, but in a split second the waiter was gone. Joshua's eyes fell and his heart fell once more in his chest.
# I don't have much money but boy if I did # I'd buy a big house where we both could live
He was far too beautiful for me to stand a chance. I looked away ashamed at having been caught gazing at him. I ran to the kitchen and sat on a stool, my head in my hands, and I sighed. If only I was rich and not stuck in a dead-end job. I might have stood a chance if I had money. Tears fell from my eyes and I convinced myself that I would never find love. Jason found me ten minutes later. He sent me home to rest saying that he would be by later to check on me.
# If I was a sculptor, but then again, no # Or a man who makes potions in a travelling show
After that night Chris appeared to be more depressed than I've ever seen him before. That is, until he read in the newspaper that Joshua was going to be visiting the hospital ward where we volunteered our free time. It was a bright Thursday afternoon when Joshua visited the ward. Chris was tending to a young boy when Joshua knocked on the door to the room. It was clear that Joshua was interested in Chris so, as soon as they started to chat, I snuck Stephen out of the room to give them time to get to know each other.
# I know it's not much but it's the best I can do # My gift is my song and this one's for you
I closed the photo album and placed it carefully on the coffee table. The bright eyes of my grandson, and his fiance, looked back at me with tears barely held in check. The story of how his two fathers got married always makes him emotional but he insisted that I tell it to her. She has beautiful eyes. James has found a wonderful bride in her. Chris and Joshua are so proud of him and I of them. Together their love outshines the hatred they endured as they courted and the pain of Joshua's fall from his father's good graces.
# And you can tell everybody this is your song # It may be quite simple but now that it's done
"There wasn't a day gone bye that I didn't thank God for bringing Chris into my life. Sure we had our troubles; but look at all the good that came of *us*."
I started to sob and quickly climbed down from the pulpit to the coffin which contained my love. Over fifty years ago our eyes met. In that split-second he captured my heart. Every day he would tell me how lucky he felt that I had chosen him; and every day I would tell him that I was the truly lucky one.
"I love you Chris.
Now and forever."
# I hope you don't mind # I hope you don't mind that I put down in words # How wonderful life is while you're in the world<<