Love Minus Zero

My love, she speaks like silence
Without ideals or violence
She doesn’t have to say she’s faithful
Yet she’s true like ice, like fire
People carry roses
And make promises by the hours
My love, she laughs like the flowers
Valentines can’t buy her
The bridge at midnight trembles
The country doctor rambles
Banker’s nieces seek perfection
Expecting all the gifts that wise men bring
The wind howls like a hammer
And the night blows rainy
My love, she’s like some raven
At my window with a broken wing
In the dime stores and bus stations
People talk of situations
Read books, repeat quotations
Draw conclusions on the wall
Some speak of the future
My love, she speaks softly
She knows there’s no success like failure
And that failure’s no success at all