Tuesday, January 28, 2025

"I Love You"

I'm currently re-reading The "Odessey": The Zombies in Words and Images.  Recently, I read about "I Love You," and I realized that in one spot, the construction of the lyrics matches the meaning.

As it's formatted in the book, one section is:
If I could find the words in my mind
The words should explain, but the words won't come
If you could see what you mean to me
My words should explain, but the words won't come
Semantically, the line "If you could see what you mean to me" seems isolated.  ("My words should explain" follows it sequentially but not logically since the explaining words would precede the knowledge of "what you mean to me.")  The line is a protasis without an accompanying apodosis, so even in the construction here, there's a lack of words ("the words won't come").