This lyric, from my musical JANE AND ELLEN AND MARY, is an exchange between social work pioneer and Nobel Prize-winning peace activist Jane Addams and her oldest friend, Ellan Gates Starr, as both near the end of their lives. Jane is ruing her lifelong failure at fully embracing a close personal relationship. Ellen, who once desperately wanted that relationship with Jane, has come to realize that Jane could only have poured her love into a general benevolence for humankind. In writing it I was working out the puzzle that some people—some great people—are not quite made for personal love.
ELLEN
YOU HAVE LIVED YOUR LIFE,
IT CANNOT CHANGE
WHAT YOU DID OR DIDN’T DO
YOU CAN’T REPLACE OR REARRANGE.
JANE
I WAS ALWAYS LOOKING
FAR BEYOND
OCCUPIED AND SELF-ABSORBED,
I NEVER BOTHERED TO RESPOND
I KEPT APART
INSTEAD OF LOVING FULLY THOSE RIGHT NEXT TO ME
WHO SHOULD BE CLOSEST TO MY HEART
I PLAYED THE ROLE OF WOMAN FOR THE WORLD
ELLEN
THE MILLIONS IN THE WORLD WHO LOOK TO YOU
DON’T NEED A WOMAN LOVING ONE OR TWO
THEY WANT THE JANE WHOSE ARMS ARE OPEN WIDE
THEY NEED THE SAINT TO BE THEIR GUIDE.
JANE
I’M NOT AS STRONG OR WISE OR WARM
AS ALL THOSE MILLIONS MAKE ME OUT TO BE
I’VE BEEN WEAK AND I’VE BEEN WRONG.
AND NOW I WON’T BE ANYTHING FOR LONG
ELLEN
BUT WE NEED HER!
THAT ONE AND ONLY JANE
WHO’S ALWAYS READY FOR THE FIGHT
NO MATTER WHAT THE ODDS OR PAIN
WE NEED TO KNOW
YOU KEPT THE FAITH, YOU DIDN’T FALTER AT THE END
THAT’S THE JANE I NEED
THAT’S THE JANE –
STANDING FOR WHAT’S RIGHT!
FOLLOWING THE LIGHT
A WOMAN FOR THE WORLD.
YOU MUST BE THAT JANE
JANE
I MUST BE THAT JANE
I AM THAT JANE
A WOMAN FOR THE WORLD
ELLEN
YOU MUST BE THAT JANE
JANE
I AM THAT JANE
ELLEN, JANE
A WOMAN FOR THE WORLD