Like a deer in the headlight
Is fear in the dead of night
You freeze by degrees as you stand there wide-eyed
It’s illusive, irrational
And it feels insurmountable
A creeping and deepening mountain of trouble
You have to show you despise it
That you know the sly lies that it
Hides on all sides in a maze of disguises
Make the past fall behind you
Shake the last walls of residue
Til you’re grounded in now and the future of new
In for a penny, in for a pound
Never give up until you have found
Not just the pieces but the answer in full
Or you’ll never know how close was the goal
In for a penny, in for a pound
Hard work is scarce while opinions abound
Too often the answer is known by none
Until you’ve slogged through the race to be run
What will happen if I let go?
Is it okay if I don’t know?
Will I see before it’s too late?
Will I lose out if I wait?
How can I survive this change?
What happens when life’s rearranged?
Will I lose the things I need?
Will I know how to succeed?
How can I keep myself on track?
How can I keep from looking back?
Will I know how to make it through?
Can I be strong and wise and true?
I am fighting
Fighting a war I didn’t begin
Fighting a battle from within
Fighting and determined to win
I was a prisoner
A prisoner of a troubled past
A prisoner of the role I was cast
A prisoner but not the last
I am fighting
Fighting to escape tyranny
Fighting for who I was meant to be
Fighting hard for victory
I will be free
Free to love without demand
Free to give a helping hand
Free to take my own true stand
All the light we cannot see
Yet fills our blood with yearning so
The pull of new discovery
The faith in things we do not know
We press on sure to find the door
The innate longing to be free
The light that led me to a crack
Where I could see but could not reach
The slap that caused me to pull back
And listen to what it would teach
The crushing truth on hopes of youth
I grew to stand within the breach
Sunrise dawn’s brave beams of light
To bathe the soul from night’s dark wake
The tumult of the storm set right
The midnight watch we each must make
To find our place, to run our race
And build a love that cannot break
How do I find the way from here
Past this pain and the chain of fear?
Why is the cliff edge taunting so near
Rutted track as I try to steer
Threatening all that I once saw clear?
Sun turns to mist and stars to mist
Shards of ice in a trembling fist
Eyes that yet burn with frozen tear
Search for answers in troubled past
Hope to find a way home at last
Here I wait for the light of dawn
Fighting through til the fog is gone
No matter what, I will hold on
Through this painful ponderous load
No matter what, I will go on
No matter how long is the road
