Noah Singing to His Wife!!!!

from Weekly Archives
Noah singing to his wife
Human love can be an astonishing and inspiring thing. I’m talking about romantic love which at its best knows what’s it like to feel the heart lurch when some special person walks into the room but also knows how to give itself—come what may—through all of life to that same person.
I believe that human love (romance included) is a profound gift from God but I think I’m aware that as soon as the gift leaves his hand it’s no longer quite what he gave. That might need chewed on for a while but there’s no doubt in my mind that however sinful humans are, by the grace of God they’re capable of fascinating demonstrations of warm loyalty and happy self-sacrifice. They’re capable of seeing beyond themselves to what pleases someone else and while it’s true (certainly!) that they get pleasure in their self-forgetfulness they don’t do it with the commercial spirit. “If I love her/him I will find happiness in return.” None of that! Choice is never obliterated in the relationship but after a time it takes a back-seat and the lover is carried along with the person of the beloved.
Only a thoroughly hedonistic person—ruled by the pelvic region—is untouched by Noah’s song to his wife. The musical Two by Two is a humorous reflection on Noah and his ark. In 1970, Richard Rodgers, Martin Charnin, Peter Stone (using Clifford Odets, “Flowering Peach”) combined their talents and have Noah sing to his wife.
I do not know a day I did not love you.
I can’t remember when love wasn’t there.
The planting when the earth ran through your fingers.
The harvest when the sun shines in your hair.
I do not know I day I did not need you
For sharing every moment that I spent
I needed you before I ever knew you
Before I knew what needing someone meant.
And if we ever were to have tomorrow
One fact alone is full and filled with song
You will not know a day I do not love you
The way that I have loved you all along.
In the face of a global flood with the future filled with mystery and maybe uncertainty you can imagine his heart pouring that out.
The good news is that Noah isn’t dead. He’s alive and well in a countless number that—whatever their failures and limitations—have hearts that can think such thoughts and long for such loveliness. [Think I'll go and give Ethel my imitation of Tony Bennett.]