Wonderings - Wave

Wave

A few years ago, I was sitting in the Japanese bullet train at Kyoto Station.
I watched as an elegantly kimonoed woman shuffled up to the train with her two well-mannered grandchildren. She watched them take their seats, then smiled stoically and waved goodbye to them. Her shoulders slumped in sadness as the train pulled away.
As the train moved on, a gaggle of teenage schoolgirls on the platform spotted my exotic head in the window and waved at me like I was the second coming of Bon Jovi. I smiled and waved back as they giggled like only schoolgirls can.

Two minutes. Two waves. Two meanings.
I thought, for a few minutes, about those waves and what they meant, then drank a beer and fell asleep.

A month later, I found myself trying to express my feelings to a friend who was leaving the company we both worked for.
As we all said goodbye at the end of a long night full of sushi, farewell toasts and karaoke, words failed me and all I could was raise my hand and say 'bye'.

Glenns' Wonderings

The next day, of course, I thought of many things I could have and should have said.
In the end though, I realized that my wave had probably said it all, and much more.
So, I picked up my guitar and wrote the words I couldn't say:

Wave

isn't it strange
how words of rage
always come easier
than words of love

i can scream in anger
but i can't even whisper
when it's love
i'm thinking of

and now i'm going away
with a million things that i'll never say

i raise my hand to you
and give my heart to you
with a wave
i give you everything
that my words can't bring
with a wave
i send my hopes to you
i send my dreams to you
with a wave
it's hard to say goodbye
but still we have to try
with a wave

sometimes it seems
like a thousand miles
stand between my words
and my heart

i try to get them close
but my mind
always finds
a way to keep them apart

and now it's time for goodbyes
there's so much to say that i can't even try

i raise my hand to you
and give my heart to you
with a wave
i give you everything
that my words can't bring
with a wave
i send my hopes to you
i send my dreams to you
with a wave
it's hard to say goodbye
but still we have to try
with a wave

Now we're leaving Singapore, our fifth move in six years.
If anything, it gets harder to say goodbye each time, not easier.
But, at least I'm getting really good at waving!