Who Am I
Lou and Peter Berryman Lyrics

Sometimes I wonder who am I
I question my true identity

The world seeming to pass me by
I feel like I'm not keeping pace with the world

A younger man now getting old
I am gradually aging and am no longer as youthful

I have to wonder what the rest of life will hold
I am uncertain about what the future holds for me

I hold a mirror to my face
I introspect and examine myself

There are some lines that I could trace
There are signs of aging that I can see on my face

To memories of loving you
I associate my physical appearance with my fondness for you

A passion that breaks reason in two
My strong romantic feelings overpower my rationality

I, I, I have to think and, I have to think and stop me now
I must prevent myself from dwelling too much on my past

If reminisces make you frown
If looking back on the past upsets you

One thinks of what one hoped to be
I revisit my past aspirations

And then faces reality
But then I must face the reality of my current situation

I wonder who started all this
I question the origin of the world and life

Was God in love and gave a kiss
I ponder whether a divine force created the universe out of love

To someone who later betrayed
If so, I wonder why humans turned against this divine force

And God less love sent us away?
Perhaps the divine force, disappointed by humans, withdrew its love

Who made the trees,who made the sky
I consider the creator of the natural world

Who made the storms, who made heartbreak?
I confront the mysteries of powerful natural phenomena and human emotion

I see at last a future self
I envision a version of myself in the distant future

Were you alive I'd ask your help
I wish you were still alive to help guide me towards this future self

But thinking puts me in a daze
However, the act of contemplating my future leaves me feeling overwhelmed and disoriented

And thinking never helped me anyway
I doubt whether my introspection will actually prove beneficial

You always were so negative
I remember that you had a pessimistic outlook

You never saw the positive
You tended to focus on the negative aspects of situations

You always stand upon the edge
You lived life precariously and took risks

And dream of what it must be to be dead
You contemplated what it would be like to no longer be alive

I know I like to dream a lot
I frequently indulge in daydreaming

And think of other worlds that are not
I imagine alternate realities and possibilities

I hate that I need air to breathe
I resent the fact that my survival depends on something as mundane as oxygen

I'd like to leave this body - and be free
I yearn for a mode of existence that is not so reliant on a physical vessel

You'd like to float like a mystic child
You imagine a way of being that is fantastical and carefree

You'd like to kiss an angel on the brow
You envision an intimate encounter with a heavenly being

You'd love to solve the mystery of live
You desire to uncover life's greatest enigmas

By cutting someone's throat or removing their heart
However, you entertain violent and extreme methods of pursuing that knowledge

You'd like to see it beat
You are fascinated by the inner workings of living organisms

You'd like to hold your eyes
You entertain surrealistic and impossible wishes

And though you know I'm dead
You acknowledge the finality of my passing

You'd like to hold my thighs
You have fantasies about physical intimacy with me, despite my death

If it's wrong to think on this
I grapple with whether or not my thoughts are morally justifiable

To hold the dead past, to hold the dead past in your fist
To cling onto the past, when it is irrevocably fixed, is impractical

Why were we, why were we given memories?
I reflect on why humans possess and retain memories

Let's lose our minds
Perhaps we should abandon our rational faculties

Be set free!
In doing so, we may find a sense of liberation

To someone who later betrayed
I reiterate the idea that humans may have betrayed their divine creator

God less love sent us away
As a result, perhaps we were cast out from paradise and live in a world devoid of divine love

To someone who later betrayed
I conclude by reiterating the possibility that humans may have betrayed their creator

God less love sent us away
Perhaps, then, our current state of existence is a result of divine love being withdrawn from our world