Stand Up

there's love in the corners

and love down the straight highway

there's danger in the outskirts of town

and in what you don't say

you're either sinking or thinking

the dark's your romance

or a special one's shining a light on a chance

that it's all very worthy to ache

in the middle of the night

sometimes i can't sleep

i can't keep all these feelings at bay

i am rage, i am sorrow and grief

all alone in my way

i know humor and heartbreak

and people are life

if i keep my eyes closed

i'll be open to strife

because the powers that be send their love

in the middle of the night

i'm gonna stand up

and let myself be counted for

stand up now

i've got my one life

and what's it to amount to

if i don't learn how

to love you and love myself beside you

mix the gentle and proud

i want to love life.

the vision in the window told me --

stand up.

to my mother my father

my witnesses live in my jagged heart

that for years has been running like fire

as though that was its part

from lover to cover and ocean to sky

from desert to mountain and promise to lie

i can say that i've prayed to forgiveness

in the middle of the night

i'm gonna stand up

and let myself be counted for

stand up now

i've got my one life

and what's it to amount to

if i don't learn how

to love you and love myself beside you

mix the gentle and proud

i want to love life.

the vision in the window told me --

stand up.

now i can see love in the woman

and love in the man in myself

i see how most people just ache to be good

at expressing themselves

and i wish i could tell you just right what i mean

about the light shining down, if i'd only come clean

but for now i live with myself

in the middle of the night.

i'm gonna stand up

and let myself be counted for

stand up now

i've got my one life

and what's it to amount to

if i don't learn how

to love you and love myself beside you

mix the gentle and proud

i want to love life.

the vision in the window told me --

stand up.