Truth Kills

What was life before we’d broken?
Hearts intact and hope preserved,
Pain held close and fears unspoken,
Did we get what we deserved?

Lights grew dim as summer ended,
Winter came before the fall.
Shattered all, not to be mended,
Truth was told and lost it all.

Haunted

I walk this world
…haunted…
By the burden of my memories,
The weight of unrelenting grief,
And through scarce moments of reprieve,
I wonder…
What else my life could be.

Believe

Shine out a light for what is coming
That which you’ve left
Who you’re becoming
Don’t change your world for someone else
You have the power to trust yourself
The path ahead may wind and waver
Persistence works in your good favor
Though often life gives cause to grieve
There’s always light, if you believe

Gloom is just a Passing Thing

While staring down your darkest days,
When all seems lost, and purpose fades;
Search out the smallest hint of light,
That spark means you've still strength to fight.
For gloom is just a passing thing;
A visitor who sleeps within.
For just past discontent towards living,
You'll feel your grand purpose beginning. 

Choose

Choose to be fearless
Choose to be strong
Choose to do right
When others do wrong

Choose to be happy
Choose to take care
You may find your power has always been there

Choose to show love
Choose to spread peace
If troubles stay with you, then grant them release

Though your life may bring pain
With the storms you go through,
How you handle the rain
Is a choice up to you.

Reincarnation

Lungs cease breathing, heart stops beating,
Brain is slowing, life is ending;
That is only our perception,
As we can’t see what’s transcending.
Atoms changing and releasing,
Adventitiously diffusing,
Scattering into the cosmos
Before once again infusing
Into new form, new shape, same soul,
Though fragmented, once again whole,
Souls, through time, shall keep returning,
‘Til the hour they’ve finished learning.

Not What I Dreamed

When I think of being free
I think of eighteen…
The rain pouring down like a floodgate had broken,
We ran home in bare feet, laughing and joking;
We felt so alive then,
The whole world was open,
So many nights we talked, planning and hoping
What life might look like in ten, twenty years,
We never thought it would be spent with so many fears;
I’d like to go back there,
Hit pause, never leave…
The world we’ve arrived in
Is not what I dreamed.

Forest of Stone

I’d been chasing shadows through the forest of stone
As I peered behind me, I found I was alone
And to my surprise, it seemed that I didn’t care
Set on chasing figures that were no longer there
Vines grown at my feet kept tripping me as I ran
Fog hung in the air obscuring where I began
Lost within the forest, only one thing I knew
There was no turning back, the only way out was through

Wonderful Life

To live without fear
and to dream without doubt,
To block out the darkness
or turn it around,
To see the world’s sin
and choose kindness instead,
To not let the cynics
get into your head,
To keep looking up
when you want to look down,
To cherish the beauty
that’s always around,
To hold on to hope
even in times of strife,
Is how to create
a most wonderful life.

Love I Never Had

Stay with me for hours, love,
Stay with me for days,
There’s so much that I’ve been dreaming of
But haven’t found the ways
To express my heart in words or prose
Or even in my deeds,
And I fear that I already know
I’m not what your heart needs,
But I’ll keep my silence by your side,
A friend through good and bad,
And I’ll let go of the dreams that die
For love I never had.

What You Can’t Hear

Fireflies and lily pads
Willows in the breeze;
The scent of Old Spice, that was Dad,
Within the break of trees,
And nearly hidden was a pond
Tucked in a bed of stone,
‘My secret fishing spot” Dad said,
“I usually come alone”
I looked at Dad, he looked at me
Until he finally spoke,
“I thought you’d make good company,
You don’t blab like other folk”
So Dad and I fished the whole day,
A relaxed silence there;
For years we returned the same way
Enjoying what you can’t hear.

Break Free

Remember those nights
We’d count more stars than cars?
And we’d dream about flying
with no fear of dying.
We thought we knew all,
not expecting to fall
from the graces of youth,
and what had been our truth.
We never thought we’d be crushed
by a world that’s so rushed.
But now time’s moving faster,
forcing us to trade laughter
for a vanishing wage;
living page to page
until the end has begun,
or til we break free and run. 

The Cage

Too young to be set free
Too old to start anew
Just watching reruns of your life
Wishing you could break through
You’ve spent years in a cage
That you’re now afraid to leave
The darkness that surrounds you there
It makes it hard to breathe
But one day you will find,
When your soul has grown most weary,
That against all of the odds,
Your cage was imaginary

My Story

Find me in the valley, in a land I once called home
Find me on the lakeshore, where the world was still unknown
Find me in the cornfields, where life still was all a game;
And once I walked away from there, things never felt the same
I see life as a quilt stitched of the places I once loved
The places that still stay with me,
even when times get tough.
Regardless of the bad, I wouldn’t dare forget the glory
The people and the places and the making of my story.

Won’t define Me

I live with demons in my mind,
They reach throughout the spans of time,
They show me all the times I’ve failed,
I refute with times I’ve prevailed;
In darkness, I’m shown years of pain,
Defied by getting up again;
And while there’s miles of hell behind me,
You can be sure, it won’t define me.

Troubled Waters

Pull up a chair and I’ll tell you a tale
Of a soul who was destined in life to set sail
Upon life’s troubled waters, equipped with no map,
Only two worn-out oars and the clothes on their back;
Though they followed the stars, often skies would grow clouded,
Though determined to soar, resolve often grew shrouded,
Until one night they came up against a harsh squall,
And as hard as they tried, they ’bout near lost it all;
And came out of the storm feeling grim, feeling cursed,
Then a calm set upon them, as they saw the worst
Passed them by and they lived – they survived and endured,
So from then on, they swore that they’d always move forward;
No matter what came their way, or how things went,
They’d survived the worst days at one hundred percent.

Always Kind

What you reap, so shall you sow,
Allow for pleasant thoughts to grow,
And mind the great law of attraction,
Each choice you make bears fit reaction.
All those who live receive what’s due,
Do good, and good will come to you,
It all comes down to state of mind,
Be strong, be brave, and always kind.

You Only Need to Live Today

Waves of sorrow,
Oceans carry
Memories you thought dead and buried;
Breathe in deeply,
You are safe.
You only need to live today.

Have Faith

All that we are or what we’ll be
Is based on what we choose to see;
You think that fate, it chooses you,
Yet it’s a matter of your view.
Choose to have courage, to be kind,
And always keep an open mind;
Don’t let the world drag you down,
Have faith that good will come around.
Nothing is ever set in stone,
And though, at times, you’ll feel alone,
So many out there are like you,
Given the chance, they’ll see you through.

Much to Do

The universe betrays me so
Taking away all that I know,
And leaving me with naught but dust,
Just hollow feelings, broken trust,
So all this time I’ve wondered why
Should I be spared as others die,
It seems as such a cruel jest
To leave one here but take the rest;
But lately, ego cast aside,
I’ve set to pondering without pride,
And though so long I’ve been adrift
Perhaps this fate is just a gift;
For as I’ve clamored, grieved, and suffered,
I’m not alone, there are yet others,
And if my story helps one through,
Then I still have much left to do.