Kevin Healey - Steam and Grind Lyrics

Funny the wiser voices know
To choose as their favorite
A spot besieged by noise

Tucked behind dividing walls
Safe from the coming-in crowd
Whose outgoing charms are
Warm as milk but over-sweet

Hear the whispered virtues of-many things
Of coffee black and strong
Or forty-year-old wine
And others still as yet unheard
Buried beneath the din of ink-skinned servers'
Steam and grind

Once I heard a story
A Zen master spoke near open windows
He chose not to pause as planes passed by
For one in the crowd, his muffled words
Triggered the insight for which all had come
Words, at last, are not the thing
We've come here to be, and not speak

Today I am an audience of one
Grateful for the steam and grind
A jet-loud noise that buries words
Just long enough that you can hear
One sweet thought arise like steam
"Let's just be here for a while"

Suddenly this noisy spot
Now oddly wise
Becomes my favorite, too