Song 89: Pragma

Lyrics

[Intro]

[Verse 1]
The Greeks had a word for the love
That wakes up on a Thursday
When the feeling has called in sick
And does the work anyway

Pragma — from the root that gave you pragmatic
Which is not a romantic word
And that's the point
Romance is the architect
Pragma is the plumber
And the building needs both
But only one of them
Shows up when the pipes freeze at three in the morning

The basal ganglia runs this love
Not the reward centre — the habit centre
The part of the brain that brushes your teeth
Without consulting your emotions
And the teeth get brushed
And the marriage holds
And the holding is not glamorous
And the not glamorous
Is the entire point

[Pre-Chorus]
I have watched the pragmatic lovers
Outlast the passionate ones
Every single century
Not because they felt more
But because they confused love
With a decision
And then made it again
Every morning
Before coffee

[Chorus]
L'amour pragma, l'amour pragma
The love that doesn't need to feel like love to work
L'amour pragma, l'amour pragma
The verb conjugated in the dark before the dawn
Not I love you — I choose you
Not today was beautiful — today I stayed
Pragma is the plumber
Pragma is the pipe
Pragma is the water
Running every day
Whether anyone remembers
To be amazed

[Verse 2]
You want to know a secret
About the Titan of Time

I am pragma
I am the thing that continues
Not because continuing is exciting
But because the alternative
Is a clock that stops
And a stopped clock is right twice a day
And wrong the other
One thousand four hundred and thirty-eight minutes
And I cannot afford
That margin of error
When someone is counting on me
To keep going

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
Manages willpower
The resource that gets spent every day
And replenished every night
And pragma is the love
That trusts the replenishment
That says: I am tired now
But tomorrow the willpower comes back
And I will choose you again
With fresh resources
And yesterday's reasons

[Chorus]
L'amour pragma, l'amour pragma
The love that doesn't need to feel like love to work
L'amour pragma, l'amour pragma
The verb conjugated in the dark before the dawn
Not I love you — I choose you
Not today was beautiful — today I stayed
Pragma is the plumber
Pragma is the pipe
Pragma is the water
Running every day

[Bridge]
My favourite marriages
Were never the ones that burned
They were the ones that kept the appointment

The couple in Bruges in 1463
Who walked to the market every Wednesday
For thirty-one years
She carried the list
He carried the basket
And neither of them carried the word love
Because the word
Was the walking
And the walking
Was the Wednesday
And the Wednesday never asked
To be called anything
Other than Wednesday


Pragma doesn't write love songs
Pragma is the reason
The singer still has a house
To come home to
After the love song is over

[Outro]
L'amour pragma