I have always cared about beauty
I spent my life researching words,
Studying music, experimenting,
I cared so much.

I cared, reading on creaky couches,
Until I drifted into dreams
About desert islands and forgotten homework
The teacher, she said I cared too little

I cared, writing under dim lights
Candles fueling imagination
Until the doctor gave me glasses
She said I had cared too little

I cared with my golden guitar,
Scribbling ballads late into the night,
The crowd never listened
They thought I cared too little

I cared in my bed,
Tormented by illness
Burdened with responsibility
My parents, they thought I cared too little

I cared in her office,
Internally distant
Reciting poetry in my mind
The doctor, she said I cared too little

I cared when she wrote down a solution,
Messy script, take one a day
For a year, I drew a clock,
Maybe I cared too little

I stopped searching for the beauty
I wrote without purpose
I cried without purpose
I cared too little

But I cared about breathing,
I lost my pen, I found my mind
I searched within, found purity
And rediscovered too much