How does it feel when you’re walking
the line,
Each misplaced step sends you over the side
Chasms around you, darkness ahead
Each step you take gives you feelings of dread.
Turns up ahead lead to darkness and fear
You know not which way is the right way to steer
Every turn has a demon just waiting to pounce
You need all the strength you can summon; each ounce.
But there up ahead is a light in the
storm
And you run with the hope that has newly been born
But then on the right stands a clown with a grin
Who says, “Why’re you running, you child full of sin?”
“You know that the gates up ahead are
all closed.
When we gave out the tickets, you just sat there and dozed.”
You cry out in shame and in fear and remorse
You ask, “But then, clown, what is the right course?”
“Why you have to go back and you start
from the start.
Only then will these gates open wide, come apart.
But then when you enter, dear child, what will be?
What things will you learn there and what will you see?
“For your answers lie inward, you’re on
the wrong track
And my only advice is you have to go back.”
“But I tried oh so hard and the answers won’t come.
You don’t know where I started or where I come from.
You stand there but laughing while I struggle and shake
Instead of advising which route I should take.
“For backwards lies danger and perils
abound
And sideways are demons I can’t get around
Front-wards I think is the best way for me
But now then you tell me that way it can’t be.
“Oh clown, can’t you help me, please show me the way
I promise to follow; I’ll try not to stray.
How do I get there, which way lies the start?”
“But you know which way, child, you know in your heart.”
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As I stood there and watched him, that clown with a grin
He faded away; nothing showed where he’d been.
But then on the rocks which loomed over my head
Was a door and a stairway but no sign where it led.
Then for lack of more choices I climbed up the steps
And I opened the door and peered through its depths.
A passage with flowers and
candles all bright
Lay down through the door, with no ending in sight
But that way I knew was my only real hope
So I went down that hallway with a half-hurried lope.
And suddenly then there I was in a field
There were flowers and sunshine and rows neatly tilled
A farmhouse stood there with a barn and a fence
And I sped my way towards it, though still worried and tense.
In the yard by the door I then saw a
young child
Playing there by some wood that was all neatly piled.
I saw smoke from a chimney and I yearned to be there
Sitting close by the fire with hardly a care.
A mother I saw sitting on the front
porch
A child in her arms, she rocked back and forth.
A man then appeared from out of the barn
His face looked much weathered, all tired and worn.
But when he came closer I saw but his
smile
And he whistled a tune as he walked all the while
As I stood there and watched them, this family so fine
My eyes trickled tears from the pain that was mine.
So far have I wandered in my search to
be free
That I missed what the point is and what’s meant to be
It seems that I’ve tarried too long in a daze
And wandered my life in a confounding maze.
And then as I stood there awash with my
tears
And feeling so desperate with all of my fears
The child in the yard, she walked over to me
And she said, “Who are you? What may your name be?”
I said, “I’ve forgotten; I know not my name.
I know not where I’m going or from which way I came.” |
“Well you must come in with us and sit
by the fire
For you look oh so cold and so lonely and tired.”
“I would, but I can’t. I must be on my way.
I must get where I’m going while it still is day.
“But I honor your kindness and I envy your life
For mine is confusion and anguish and strife.”
She looked at me then with her little girl eyes
And said, “But you’re wrong there, you’re telling me lies.
“You’re strong and you’re pretty and you
look very wise.
You just need to be happy, throw off your disguise.
The answer is simple and you know the way
And I know you will go but you’re welcome to stay.
“It matters not which way you came to be
here
It matters not that you’re wounded by fear
For here you are now and here you will start
And now you must only but follow your heart.
“For the answer is love and you knew
that before
You knew it as soon as you stepped through that door.
So go on your way now and always be true
And know there is someone who’ll always love you.”
And then the clouds parted in my foggy
brain
And I knew it was pointless to dwell in my pain
For I knew that the answer was there in my heart
And I knew that I’d made it, I was back at the Start
And if I live truly and live life that way
Then there is nothing to get in my way.
Then as I turned and made way to depart
I saw the clown in the lane with a cart
The cart was for flowers and he handed me one
And said, “Now you know and you’re journey’s begun.
“You’re headed the right way, you know
what to do
And if to yourself you will always be true
You will get where you’re going and you will always be free.”
I then smiled as he vanished for that clown looked like me.
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