A Mother’s Lament

Were you looking for the mother that I failed to be
Is the anger that’s inside you simmering for me
The Garden of Verses is fading in your room
And a long ago baby is a shadow in my womb

Sleight of Hand

I saw a sleight of hand
And truth twisted into a slinky
The Mad Hatter changed seats again
And I raced out of Wonderland
Dazed…and confused

Shattering Illusion

As I stand here afraid
Under the onslaught
I wish desperately that you were real
Putting my trust into an illusion
Instead of God
Who can do everything
While you can do nothing
But flit across the realms of my mind
As a shadow in disguise

Rumination

I thought time was like change
You throw into a jar
For a rainy day
If I ran out of the present
I could always cash in on tomorrow

I thought life was Cinderella
And Snow White
Happily ever after
I didn’t count on death
I didn’t think about destruction

I thought love was binding
And healing
But the binds cut and bleed
And love hurts

I thought depression was just what happens
While you wait for the sun
I didn’t know that it darkens out the sun
Which was there all the time

I thought I’d live forever
And ride away on that white stallion
With Lancelot

I thought age was what other people did
The Cat Lady
And the Vagabond

I thought the sun would rise
I didn’t count on the sunset

Turmoil

I don’t know what to do with my heart
It’s breaking nearly in two
I see you bleeding and I don’t know why
And I can’t tell what to do
And I’m asking the Lord to save you
And I’m asking Him to make you whole
And I’m looking for a little guidance
For the pain inside your soul

You tell me I shouldn’t worry
And I know that you’re not okay
And I see you slipping further
And I don’t know what to say
And I’m asking the Lord to save you
And I’m asking Him to make you whole
And I’m looking for a little guidance
For the pain inside your soul

Sometimes you turn a cold shoulder
And then you are reaching out
And I don’t know how to embrace you
Or what this is all about
And I’m asking the Lord to save you
And I’m asking Him to make you whole
And I’m looking for a little guidance
For the pain inside your soul

Sorrows of Youth

She walks the halls in silence
And dares not look around
The mocking voices follow
Though she never makes a sound
She hurries to her locker
Where her science folder waits
And she spins the lock too quickly
While the bell tells her she’s late

Now she’s gone and done it
She’s the last one to arrive
And she wonders as they giggle
How she’ll manage to survive
And the future seems so distant
And the hope is all there is
And the periodic table that
She studies for the quiz

Her junior year in high school
Finds her still the bully’s taunt
She just happens to be different
And the mocking always haunts
She struggles for the strength
To get through another day
And she dreams of some grand future
When she’ll up and run away

Illusion

What if I saw you
What if you were standing in the grocery store
What if it was someone who looked just like you
What would I say
Would it even be okay

If you saw me
Down the grocery aisle
Would you smile
Would you wonder where you’d seen me before
Would you know
It would shake me to the core

I imagined I passed you in the produce
And you caught me staring
And you smiled
That familiar smile
And I told you that you looked so much like someone
I once knew
Then I turned and walked away

The Barren Oak

Stark against a greying sky
I see the oak as we drive by
And think of things that have gone before
Passed away to be no more
My son is driving at the wheel
Trepidation is what I feel
Grown so fast, where did my boy go
Gone with the wind that ever blows
Fast is the time we try to keep
Barren the oak whose branches weep
Longing for spring that came and went
While I long for the childhood long since spent

Everything is Not What it Seems

I lost myself in the shuffle
When you walked out
You took my heart
Every item in your room
Is evidence
But the voice on the phone
Is distant
Struggling to fill the void
I’m reading Harlequin romance
Feeling old
Why is the heroin always beautiful
And why can’t my stolen heart beat

Phantom Lover

I imagine your hands trespassing
And I suppress a shudder
I have no alibi
Phantom lover
Ruler of the night
I rue the day I met you
I rue the day I never did