It comes down to knowing the difference
Between the truth and the lies
It takes time to figure all of this out
But once it’s done how beautifully that flag flies.
Like ropes entangled, twisted and tight,
We struggle with these tempting thoughts:
Gifts wrapped in twined misgivings.
Still we reach for more, even though
Like square pegs we know it will hurt
Driving those emotions into hearts already sore.
The way things are has been less than we had hoped.
And yet that travelled road bends and turns
And each revealed stretch seen many times
Still promises a different view, but disappoints.
It’s always the same: those choices, those snarls.
Hands tied, we struggle against the repetitive gloom:
There must be more. There must be more.
There must be more.
Unwinding the snarles, freeing the heart
Trying something truly new
Is scary to those who choose the devil we know
And miss the beauty trying to get through.
The barrier of history is a tough one.
It has no fire escape, no way around.
It’s choices we made and made again
And suffered through and through
Until in desperate over and over ennui
We are willing to try anything.
Then a door opens to a world unseen
By the previous us who, fettered to tangles,
And tangled in doubt, thought we knew.
Knots at first are tight and balled
But, unwinding, they fall apart.
The tension that held, released by effort –
Not brute but patient. The cords of
gnarling sinew relaxed and the world
We feared fell away.
Unwinding the snarles, freeing the heart
And trying something truly new
Is scary to those who choose the devil we know
And miss the beauty trying to get through.
Bill Purdin | 10/18/11