How I Am

She (D)asks how I am.

read And (Em7sus4)so how am I?

My (F#m7)days are the usual (Bm7)days:

I wake (C)up;

I go out.

What more Time goes (A7sus4)by.

My (G)days are exactly the (F#m7)days I have lived since (Bm7)arriving here.

In (G)fact, how I am is (F#m7)amazed how this comforts me (Bm)year by year.

I (C)work and I eat.

Life is muffins and (A7sus4)jam.

The (Em7)house is nice and (F#m7)quiet now.

(A7sus4)That is how I (D)am.

Five years in these rooms read ing (Em7sus4)Hegel and Kant.

My (F#m7)mind is devoted to (Bm7)thoughts of the (C)meaning of life.

What more could I (A7sus4)want?

So (G)why is it lately I (F#m7)find I'm uneasy all (Bm7)through the night?

And (G)why even now does my (F#m7)skin feel explosive as (Bm)dynamite?

Why (C)does my heart pound like a battering (A7sus4)ram?

How (Em7)can she ask me (F#m7)how I am?

(A7sus4)That is how I (D)am.

Five (Gmaj7)(A7sus4)How I am is (B)fine!

Dear Miss March, there is (E)nothing (B)dramatic or (F#)new to (B)report.

(F#)This will be (B)short.

Morning and evening I (E)live in my (B)usual way.

On the (E)day you (B)return you will (F#)see for (B)yourself!

(C)Tell me, Miss March, are you (F)happy so (C)far from the (Dm)clang and the (C)beat of our (F)turbulent (C)street?

Quite (F)often I (C)think of our (G5)days in New (C)York.

Though, of (Fmaj7)course, since you (C)went I have (G7sus4)been quite (Ab)content.

(Ab)Ach! I wake in the morning and all that I hear is the absence of (Gb)sound.

(Ab)Yes! My peace is disturbed, but the ruckus is me as my thoughts run (Gb)aground.

(Gb)I (B)wanted a life by myself in these rooms,

but (A)now all around me, another life looms.

Who (G#m)asked her to come and to (F#)go and to leave me like (E)that?

(E)And (C#m7)now she expects me to (D#m7)send her a note?

With (C#m7)words, if I spoke, that would (D#m7)stick in my throat!

Who (G)asked her to change how I live,

(Bm)how I (Em7)think,

how I (Gm6)am?

(G69)She (A7sus4)That is how I (D)am.