Header photo by Colm Henry

One of my all-time favorite love songs ever, “All I Want Is You” by U2, strips off all the baggage and day-to-day every things, leaving nothing but want, desire, need, and love. Most days, we chase around with ever-growing to-do lists, post-it notes stuck on so many surfaces to remind us of things we are supposed to do, supposed to need, phones that are deemed “smart” that interrupt and navigate us, and all our internal fears and insecurities that follow close behind, more persistent than our shadow. All of this paints our days, clouds our perceptions, and muddies the way we allow ourselves to feel.

“All the promises we break,
from the cradle to the grave,
when all I want is you.”

“All I Want Is You” by U2
from the album, Rattle And Hum (1988)
Song Of The Day – March 9, 2011

We all bring to the table our stories, our histories, and our rules of engagement (spoken and unspoken, usually the latter). We all have so many expectations. And, as the years go by, even with those close to us, those we love, we still carry doubts and assumptions about. At the end of the day, though, when we close our eyes to the world, alone in our thoughts, alone in our selves, we all know what we want.

That’s what makes this love song so beautiful to me, and so full of meaning. That underneath it all, despite of, and because of everything I am, and have, “all I want is you.”