Stay Hungry

Stay hungry, kid, someone told me long ago.
Nothing in this life can make you full.
I remember empty cupboards on empty afternoons
waiting as child after school.

Oh Marie, oh Marie, you knew what I meant.
You told me that you have those memories too.
It was only one night that we ever got to spend
but God it made me feel so close to you.

Stay hungry, you said, and you walked me to the door.
You said, don’t expect too much from one night.
Stay hungry, you said. Maybe we’ll see each other more
and you kissed my cheek beneath the hallway light.

Oh Marie, oh Marie, I thought you were so cruel!
You knew I had no other place to stay.
But I stepped into the street and remembered my own rule:
Stay hungry, kid, there is no other way.

For there’s hunger all around us,
there’s hunger in every thing.
There’s hunger there no matter what we do.
Closing my eyes, I slowly realized
that I’m going to love,
oh, I’m going to love missing you.

We’ll stay hungry, then, until our final breath.
And maybe one day we will meet again.
But if hunger is the true life, and everything else is death,
then you’ll be alive inside of me till then.

Oh Marie, oh Marie, I only wished you knew
what it felt like walking back from your place.
The sun was coming up all along the avenue
shining down its golden rays of grace.

And I knew there’s hunger all around us.
There’s hunger in every thing.
There’s hunger there no matter what we do.
Closing my eyes, I slowly realized
that it feels so good,
oh, it feels so good missing you.

Tam Lin