Here’s to all the things I’ve seen
The hard things that I made it through
The special people I have known
The promises I found were true
Here’s to the whispers that I heard
The times I fought to not give in
The faith and hope I held onto
The bonds of love that always win
Here’s to this safe place I have found
Each day, each choice that got me here
Here’s to the future that is mine
To looking forward without fear
I wanted things – shining worlds
Rainbows held in drops of dew
Birds soaring in clear blue skies
Sunrise from mountaintop view
I wanted things – twinkling dreams
Meteor shower, shooting star
Face always in the warm sunshine
Moonbeam glow on waters far
I wanted things – blooming hopes
Farmhouse nestled in rolling hills
Chickens roosting on the porch rail
Waterwheels on country mills
I wanted things – wide open paths
Golden fields touching the horizon
Panorama of green mountain peaks
Turquoise lake sparkling in sun
I wanted things way back when
I found things I could not imagine then
I wandered through a tangled wood
I saw dead leaves come falling down
I heard the cries of flying geese
I smelled the scent of autumn’s brown
I felt the hint of winter’s chill
I knew that summer soon would end
I tasted snowflakes on the breeze
I saw winter round the bend
I turned and saw the setting sun
I watched the last birds leave the nest
I heard the fading summer bugs
I smelled the roses at their best
I felt departing heat waves’ scorch
I knew that night was shortening day
I tasted garden’s last fresh yield
I saw summer slip away
I said so long, but not farewell
To every autumn leaf that fell
For summer will return again
I feel it far off in the wind
The letter I wrote to a world that didn’t write back
The light I found that only led me to a crack
The call I made to a phone that was off the hook
The dreams I dreamed that only happen in a book
A stormy life of springtime joys and winter pain
A treacherous life of highs to fall back down again
A hard life that takes great faith to believe
A weary life of small victories you achieve
Broken tears of soul-searching depths of pain
Bitter tears of disappointment, let down again
Shameful tears of empty hope you once believed
Weary tears of painstaking, tenuous gains achieved
Treasure this great, fragile life that is ours
For only in darkness can you see the stars
The woods are dark and lone and deep
The path so long that we must keep
The tangled vines weave webs below
The thorny stems and branches grow
The thickets shut out light up high
The ravens in the distance cry
The darkness grows at every turn
The vining leaves with poison burn
The only choice is forward go
Through woods so deep and dark and low
The woods are not so dark and deep
If only to the path we keep
The vines protect the earth below
Berries and fruits on branches grow
Our eyes adjust to light up high
Our ears hear ravens call not cry
Our courage grows with every turn
And in the distance now lights burn
Because we chose to forward go
Through woods so deep and dark and low
Such fickle things are memories
So fragile, tenuous, but strong
Some fade before the ink has dried
While some will last in stone life-long
And others flit like butterflies
Appearing where they least belong
But every one will play a part
One note or chord to fill life’s song
Time too plays quiet, clever tricks
To alter memories as they age
Intensifying color, strength
Or else erasing from the page
To piece a story that will hold
Against the siege of life and loss
To help us keep the things most dear
Where love and joy and sorrow cross
