Desolate land,
Grasses once green, trees stood taller,
Empty streets, bereaved seas.

Once full of men ambitious,
Dreamers of better futures,
Seeing beyond horizons.

Desolate land,
Consumed inhabitants,
Cries for freedom,
Her children created the havoc,
Her soldiers bore the ruins.

Desolate land,
Once home to many,
High walls,
Guarded cities.

Now the streets are empty,
The wind hollers a dreary tune,
Life existing, in quiet resonance

What went wrong?

The earth swallowed up her children,
For they did not err to the warnings of mother nature, seeing the but signs looking away,
I hate to be the one who speaks of  such doom.

Alas! A man is found,
Torn and beaten yet surviving,
Surely all wasn't lost in the end.

Desolate land revived again,
What seemed like destruction,
Was man's preservation.

Papa used to say,
"I won't be here forever,
You gotta learn for yourself
to do things you ought to.

Life ain't gonna be easy,
you gotta keep believing.
No one owes you a penny
if you never worked to earn it".

Papa used say,
"I won't be here forever
You gotta learn for yourself
to be brave and strong
for there will be ugly days ahead.

You gotta learn to give love
even when you've never been given".

"It is a cold world out there,
covered in gross darkness,
there is plenty of pain and suffering.
Be ready to shine your light".

Papa used to say,
"we all need saving --
the preacher out there in the streets
and the robber out there in prison
We all need saving.

So look upon others
with nothing but compassion.
For if it wasn't for love
we wouldn't mention humanity".

Papa used to say,
"Let us not lose our heads in anger,
there's nothing more liberating
than freely dished out forgiveness.

The more it's given
the harder it becomes.
But if there's no hostility
how can true love be proven?"

I'd get mad at papa
for all he said sounded ridiculous.
Won't be here forever?
Why the hurry to leave?

Now papa is gone.
The years have slowly
Revealed to me
the same things papa once saw.

I've had my share of love.
I've had my share of loss.
It is indeed true,
There ain't no better teacher than experience.

If only I had listened
to what papa once said
I'd have saved myself
from a whole lot of hurting.
No regrets though,
we live to learn.

Promise I'd tell my kids
Same thing papa used to say,
"I won't be here forever
You gotta learn for yourself
To do things you ought to

Life ain't gonna be easy but you gotta keep believing
No one owes you a penny
if you never worked to earn it..."

With patches and creases
I try to put together the pieces
Of my broken shattered heart,
I've watched all my walls
Crumble right before me.

Every truth I held high
gradually coming undone.
Who had lied to me greatly?
But the very ones
I esteemed more enlightened.

Where's all the love
They talked about?
Nothing but cold broken hearts
Around here
Seems like I'm not the only one.

With patches and creases
I try to put together the pieces
Of my broken shattered heart,
I've watched all my walls
Crumble right before me.

Deception... what's worse is
The solutions they had claimed
to present were
Nothing but lies and man made stories

I believed.

I had hoped
they knew better.

Groomed to become the one
to take on the totem,
they'd be sorry to see the monster they created.

Oh, but we tried didn't we?
To live up to the standards they had created
and live out the laws they had taught us.
Though they broke their very own rules
We watched.

With their hands they had created
The very disaster they now seek to get rid of.


With patches and creases
I try to put together the pieces
Of my broken shattered heart,
I've watched all my walls
Crumble right before me.

Now they blame it on the Universe
and claim that God has been unjust to them,
For no one desires the consequences,
They claim it was the instruction from above.

Gradually, their rules failed them,
not because the rules themselves were evil,
but because they constantly failed to uphold
the very doctrines they had created.

With patches and creases
We try to put together the pieces
Of our broken shattered heart,
We watched all our walls
Crumble right before us.

Yet we wonder
Who has done this evil?

HOPE IS...

The silent awakening that comes with knowing,

Knowing that situations are temporary,
That grief is the journey to healing.

Knowing, that your heart will learn to love again, And your lips shall learn to smile again.

Knowing that your voice is made to sing,
Sing praises from the depth of your soul's relief.

That though the years hold uncertainty,
Each day is a reason for gratitude.

The silent awakening that comes with knowing,

Knowing that your heart’s rhythm echoes survival, and you've got the courage to keep moving.

That the sun shall kiss thy face again,

And your steps will someday lead you through flourishing paths.

I stood by the door everyday.

Watching everyone else discover themselves,
getting better,
showing great talents and skill.

They were good at it.
Being extraordinary.
Being impressive.
While I just watched,
the years rolled by and I kept watching.

Not taking a step to show the world what I could do,
I said I didn't want to impress because I didn't have to.

Deep down I was just scared.

I longed for the day I'd come out and wow them all
but I just stood everyday watching.

Don't be me.
Don't let fear stop you from living your dreams.
If you're passionate about it
Go for it.

You'll be glad you did.
You've got all it takes,
You've got all you need.

Don't listen to the doubt in your head.

Your fears may be valid
but they aren't stronger than you are.

Time goes by and before you know it,
Life is running out on you.

So live your dream and say no to self doubt.
I believe in you.

The future seems bleak because of how dark today is, can’t seem to get the worries o my chest.
Tomorrow draws closer and my heart sinks deeper;

What if I don’t make it?
What if I got it all wrong?
I was wrong to hope,
or believe that tomorrow would be better;

Today is here,
but not the tomorrow I expected,
A beautiful tomorrow seems like a fairytale, Maybe just lies to keep us going;

The future seems bleak because of how dark today is, can’t seem to get the worries o my chest,
As tomorrow draws closer, my heart sinks deeper;

Until I get to a place where I can find happiness, there’ll never be a beautiful tomorrow.
What if something unexpected happens?
Then there will be NO tomorrow;

Means my whole life
would have been an expectant mess.
Well then, I’ll decide to stop waiting for tomorrow, because today is now,
and yesterday was my tomorrow.

I’ll never find a place where happiness lives,
You know what they say...
Happiness isn’t a place or a time,
Happiness ought to be wherever I go,
If I cannot be happy today,
I may never be happy,

If something unexpected happens
And my beautiful tomorrow never comes,
At least I’ll know
That my life was a happy one;

Every moment and every experience has its beauty
Tomorrow is not a specific time or place.
We all want that “future” when we will be happy...

I have come to learn,
that tomorrow isn’t a time or place where all your problems disappear and you have nothing to worry about;

Tomorrow is now,
The happiness you seek lies deep within you Let it find expression!