WHY IS IT SO HARD

What a great prompt! I often said that Janis Ian is my muse (she and Leonard Cohen actually) so, this was a natural fit for me. I've used 5 of Ian's songs and indicated where the lines come from with annotations...I hope that becomes clear by the end.  I've combined this prompt with this week's Sunday Whirl wordle words

WHY IS IT SO HARD (3)

If I had one wish tonight (3)
I would wish to stream my muse
Get up the pluck and even write
Again to tell her how she helps me so

I am older now, I know,
but still as big a fool (2)
Why is it the simple truths
Are the hardest to believe (4)

Still, I can't forget back when
I too did not "want to ride
the milk-train any more" (1)
My everyday routines passed
by in a type of invisible flow

I recall thinking then too,
"The days are okay
I watch the TV in the afternoon" (2)
When I would try to list all
that was going right...
"I'll go to bed at nine
and waken with the dawn."
The most gutsy thing I did
back then was listen to
your songs...

"And in the winter extra
blankets for the cold" (2)
How often did I play this tune?
I wonder the groove did
not wear through...
"Overused and much abused" (5)
But I did gather blankets to
cover my shivering body
While you brought "the comfort
of a few old friends,
long past their prime." (1)

Decades later, you still
ignite me muse
"And gazing at the moon,
I'll pray to go quite mad." (1)
But pray harder now to
stay sane so
"Pass the tea and sympathy
For the good old days long gone." (1)

I wish I knew you well enough
To ring you up and ask you
If I have grasped so very many things...
Or even if we both could learn to fly...
"Cause in the air we'd meet as friends
Equal to the sky
and I would be content to watch you fly
but from the ground you're just someone
who's standing closer to the sun
and I am just a shadow by your side." (3)

Notes:
 1. Tea and Sympathy (from Between the Lines)
 2. Getting Over You (from Hunger)
 3. Shadow (from Hunger)
 4. In the Winter (from Between the Lines)
 5. Bright Lights and Promises (from Between the Lines)