only tonight

I catch my breath 
As the air pours through the windows

And it hits me out of the nowhere

How many more times in my life will I get this view on a night like this

When the fields smell of fresh grass and damp earth and old hay
And the crickets are singing
To the darkness or the moon or each other

How many more drives home 
When home is a simple word 
When home is a place with people you love 
And it is home

It hits me like a bag of cement to the gut
You’re going to miss this

Everything is changing
And it happens so fast
And we wish it away
For the next the better the best

But it never comes 
Because there is only today 

And today is all we get

Only tonight-
The thin clouds
The lone star
The invisible brightness
Headlights on the road
One hour down
On the way home
On the threshold of summer

Because all of a sudden two years from now is a week from Tuesday 
And nothing's ever going to be the same

So let me breathe in the air
And let tonight be tonight
Let me drive the roads of monotony
And let it settle in my bones
Let me feel it while it’s here
Let me ache let me cry let me bang my head against the steering wheel turn the music up run my hands through my hair and be still 

Let me know that I am alive
And these are the days
These are my days
God-- don’t let them slip away