Sunlight and Shadows

Finding poetry in star dust, sunbeams, and passing clouds

Category: Frustration

  • Some Day

    Chasing after something with every breath I spend

    A great, elusive something up there just ahead

    If I can only make it around the nearest bend

    I’ll catch up to this phantom, escape all that I dread

    Chasing after somewhere that everything is good

    And in this perfect somewhere my life falls into place

    My role, my world, my plan for life is clearly understood

    And every puzzle piece is fit so neatly in its space

    Chasing after someday when all these things are found

    I’ll finally stop searching and enjoy life all the way

    Complete with love, success, and health – perfection all around

    I’ll have no fear, regret, or doubt to darken any day

    Chasing after something, somewhere, somehow, some day

    When all along, it’s been right here, if I will only stay

    ,

  • Running in Circles

    Slamming up against the wall

    Bouncing back just like a ball

    Running fast from what’s inside

    Just to hit the other side

    I’m stuck in here, I can’t get out

    Boxed in by my fear and doubt

    Prison walls inside my head

    Thoughts so deep they can’t be said

    Afraid to let in any light

    Lest my fragile dreams take flight

    If I keep them locked away

    They still could come somehow, some day

    I just imagine what should be

    And filter in reality

    Float each hope up to the top

    Knowing bubbles always pop

    Round and round this track I go

    Endless loops of high and low

    Unless, until I find the key

    To open up the door for me

    ,

  • Stalled

    Drowning in words, but nothing to say

    Wanting to act, but running away

    Knowing these feelings will drive me insane

    But still I hold on tight to the pain

    Feeling so bad, but not knowing why

    Looking for help, but too scared to try

    Trying to look at what is inside

    But fearing my world will just be denied

    This chaos inside will tear me apart

    Until I can find the truth in my heart

  • Captured

    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

  • Tangled

    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

    ,

  • The Optimist

    Why do you play with fire

    When you can’t help getting burned?

    Why do you give your trust away

    Before it has been earned?

    Why do you let your thoughts

    Run away on a wild horse?

    Why do you take a swing

    Without looking at the course?

    Why do emotions’ waves

    Roughly wash you out to sea?

    Why don’t you learn to ride

    The storm out peacefully?

    Why do you do the same thing

    And expect a different end?

    Why do you think your fantasy

    Is just around the bend?

    ,