1981 Lyrics

I just turned twenty-five

Hiding barely alive

Living a secret life inside

I thought no one knew

Then one afternoon

1981 the fourth of June,

Out the door we were on our way

You never made it, you died that day

Suddenly it came to me

You have to live what's true

Doesn't matter who you love

It only matters that you do

Don't waste another day

Were the words that somehow came my way

And in my heart, I knew those words were you

On TV the news was bad

Men were dying no one knew what they had

More lives would end too soon

And men like me were not immune

There were blotches on my skin

I cried is this how the end begins

All I wanted was a few more years

All I wanted was to stay right here.

Suddenly it came to me

You have to live what's true

Doesn't matter who you love

It only matters that you do

Don't waste another day

Were the words that somehow came my way

And in my heart, I knew those words were you

But that was a long time ago

I'm still here

It wasn't what we thought it was

But I'll never forget that fear

Now I have a house a lovely home

Legal husband, who would have known

Four dogs that drive me crazy who would have thought

That this is the life I'm lucky I caught, so lucky I caught

Suddenly it came to me

You have to live what's true

Doesn't matter who you love

It only matters that you do

Don't waste another day

Were the words that somehow came my way

And in my heart, I knew those words were you

You could say I'm the lucky one

Others not so much

This is why I do what I do

My heart deeply touched

For those who did not make it here

We honor you

With the promise to do all that we can

And do for others what we could not do for you.