Forgiveness

I never meant to hurt you, I’m not that way at all.
Please believe the words of a heart, a heart that seems so small.
And I never meant to hurt you, I guess I lost my place.
Please believe the words of a heart, a heart that hides its face.

Why do I do things I never mean to do?
Why did I speak so carelessly when all that I felt was love for you?

~Laura Nyro, “I Never Meant to Hurt You”

This song about breaking someone’s heart is one that also speaks to acknowledging that we sometimes damage our relationships.

Maybe it isn’t as powerful as breaking a heart.

But what’s subtle in the lyrics is that it is a song about heart that hides its face.

Professionally, people tend to hide their faces, hide the truth about themselves. They act, “professionally,” refusing to let someone in until their heart is broken by being passed over for promotion, their ideas are dismissed for someone else’s or some other perceived slight.

Their heart feels so small, to use Nyro’s lyrics. It seems so uncaring.

And it breaks ours.

Or we break theirs.