The rhythm circles round and round
The banjo chuckles and the fiddle cries
Through the guitar’s climbing harmonies
Our bluegrass music soars and sighs
Begin with blues of trouble, loss
The next, a freight train’s rhythmic ride
Then turn to faith and glory land
And end at the old home countryside
What other songs can lift the soul
Can sing its joy and cry its tears
To capture in one melody
Life’s hopes and sorrows, love and fears
All these feelings swirling around inside
Looming, growing, but look at them, they hide
Weighing down my heart, dragging on my feet
Gray worry, purple dread, and black defeat
On top of that, orange irritation, blue regret
Red frustration, yellow to just forget
Becomes a swirling, tangled, muddy mess
Of feelings I can’t reach, connect, express
All the thoughts, the jumbled, scattered parts
Each word, idea forms and then departs
Trying to hold these fleeting bands of smoke
To clear the air before I cough and choke
How to condense these vapors into drops
Of water to be captured, put in stops
And somehow match them to emotions’ hues
A puzzle with too many pieces to choose
Too many pieces, none that fit
Easier to let them be, just quit
Except that if I let them be
They will never let go of me
Let the wheels roll for freedom
Fill the road full for freedom
Although silent for a while
Now the bells toll for freedom
We will stand on conviction
Take back what they stole for freedom
No division, no distraction
Unified our goal for freedom
We won’t stop until victory
Makes our new lives whole for freedom
On the outside looking in
This is where I’ve always been
I belong but have no place
Still I hold on just in case
On the outside looking in
Hoping this is when I’ll win
The door’s ajar, I step inside
But I’m ignored and pushed aside
On the outside looking in
Rejected, shamed, and hurt again
That world inside, I finally see
Is a twisted, warped reality
On the outside looking in
A better life I will begin
I find it’s outside I belong
Where I can heal, where I grow strong
That thing I said I didn’t mean
The pain inside no one has seen
The thoughts that tumble round and round
The feelings that turn upside down
The mixed-up things deep down inside
The worries that I cannot hide
The judgements that I cannot make
The chances that I shouldn’t take
The indecision on what is right
The worldview of black and white
The gloomy shadows that come at night
The days that try to make things right
Not all races that you win
Have cheers and fanfare at the end
Not all mountaintops you climb
Will immortalize you in time
Not all planes you learn to fly
Can write your name across the sky
Not all stories that you write
Will be best sellers overnight
For sometimes you’re the only one
Who knew the race had to be run
And it looked easy to the top
To those who couldn’t see the drop
Some planes weren’t even built til you
Had to construct them while you flew
And sometimes stories must be told
Of life on the less traveled road
So climb your mountain, run your race
Don’t worry over time or place
For each small victory’s one more stone
To build a life you call your own
