The Ideals of Love

. . . never really were and never really will be, except in our dreams, fantasies, and faux memories.

from “Dress Rehearsal Rag” by Leonard Cohen:

Yes, it’s come to this
And wasn’t it a long way down?
And wasn’t it a strange way down?

Once there was a path
And a girl with chestnut hair
And you passed the summers
Picking all of the berries that grew there

There were times she was a woman
There were times she was just a child
And you held her in the shadows
Where the raspberries grow wild

And you climbed the twilight mountains
And you sang about the view
And everywhere you wandered
Love seemed to go along with you

- — — — — — — — — — -

“Once Upon a Time” by Charles Strouse / Lee Adams

Once upon a time
A girl with moonlight in her eyes
Put her hand in mine
And said she loved me so
But that was once upon a time
Very long ago

Once upon a hill
We sat beneath a willow tree
Counting all the stars and waiting for the dawn
But that was once upon a time
Now the tree is gone

How the breeze rustled through her hair
How we always laughed as though tomorrow wasn’t there
We were young and didn’t have a care
Where did it go?

Once upon a time
The world was sweeter than we knew
Everything was ours
How happy we were then
But somehow once upon a time
Never comes again