You were one of the first to teach me about value.
You helped me gain independence, little by little.
I shared my desires with you and you helped me to fulfill them.
Sometimes I needed just that little bit more and there you were,
Ready to pitch in and help out.

I remember a smile breaking onto my face with the very glimpse of you,
Your shining face gleaming at me from afar.
Sometimes those you thought were your friends would just toss you away,
But not me, not ever.
I cherish you for everything you are worth and then some.

You have always been unique, different than all the rest I would come across.
You have your own look.
Yes, you may look similar to others in one way,
But with a quick flip you are shining again like only you can.
Time may tarnish your gleam, but no matter how rugged you get you will always be of worth.

Special childhood moments come back to me now.
Holding you in my sweaty little palm, I would fill with excitement
Knowing you were about to deliver to me the sweetness of my dreams.
All I needed was you and maybe a few more of your friends.
And off we’d go to spend a Saturday afternoon in delightful company.

Seniors would push you away, unwanted, undervalued.
They would take one quick glance to see if they recognized you.
Then they would pass you on to a youngster,
As if they had far too much of you to care for more.
But not me, I would swoop you up and run off, delighted.

Now you are to be no more. No replacements.
You will be allowed to discolour and erode with age as so many of your ancestors have done.
But to me, you will always be the highly valued shining copper penny
Who taught me to count, to value goals and how to use money to attain some of them.
And most importantly, how to take the first steps towards my independence.

I hear a song and it rips my heart
I was fine until then,
Or at least I thought I was.
There are just those moments that no one knows about
Not even me, until they slap me in the face.
It isn’t the sorrow that everyone would suspect
So I am able to hide the real reason for only me to know.

James Blunt singing “Good Bye My Lover’ is just a bit too much to bear.
What happens on the day you die?
Unfortunately, I see that as the only way out of this now.
Or is it? I guess I could hope that our passion just fades away but that is so sad too.
Either way, there is no way for me to get what I need.
I have known that for a long time now.
Once I accepted that, I changed what I needed.
That way you could fulfill this new need and you did.
Very well, but even with all that there is still my original need there.
That thirst will never be quenched.
Can I abandon it? Sometimes I think so.
But more times, I think not.

Hanging on, like an empty bird house waiting for spring to arrive
And bring a new crop of visitors who need me.

Hanging on, like last years leaves, not ready to drop from the tree
Even though all the signs are there to tell me I have over stayed my welcome.

Hanging on, like melting snow on a roof top
Slowing losing my grip and falling further and further over the edge.

Hanging on, waiting for your creation would be as difficult as all that
If it weren’t for your messages and my belief in your ability to make it all worthwhile.

How do I know you,
How do I trust?
Is it our love,
Or is it our lust?

I've seen this before
With some other guys
It all ended badly,
Ended in lies.

It's tainting my judgment
Making me scared.
I've dreamed of a future
With you, I have dared.

If it were to shatter,
All to be lost
My heart is the payment.
Can I summon the cost?

My account is but dry,
A copper I've none.
If Fate forces payment
I surely am done.

But if I stay the coarse
And you love me for true,
Happy souls for life,
That's us, me and you.

Something draws you in and you reach out a hand.
Don’t know why, it just happens that way sometimes.
You make a statement and get a response. The smiling kind.
So goes the give and take of acquaintance but there is more.
Sometimes there is a special connection, something you see,
Something the other person sees, feels that builds a friendship.
Laughter is easy, fun. You are you and they are they.
You see some of what indicates so much more.

They see enough to want to learn more, share more, listen more, tell more.
Friendship is a smooth and gliding road; times of great speed and times of coasting pleasure.
We like the ride as we pedal along taking in the warm sunshine,
Delighting in unexpected moments of fun.
Sometimes there are bumps in the road and we even fall over a cliff but there is that hand; that friend’s hand.
The hand that belongs to the person who understands, who cares and tries hard to make us reach up and grab hold.
That friend is a special friend. One who doesn’t give up.  
Sometimes we don’t see our friend a lot or sometimes they are a new friend but a true friend nonetheless.
And sometimes they are a friend we have never actually met but we are close in spite of that.

I am guilty of sometimes not making sure my friends know I value them.
We all let the moments slip by. We have busy lives and we don’t always think.
We don’t always think of how much our friends give us and that to keep the bond strong we have to give back too and make sure they know how special they are to us.
My friends are like my family only better. I didn’t get to pick my family but I picked my friends or they picked me and I am so glad they did.
Whether meeting by accident or by design we have been thrown together and I am so glad we have been.

Way back when, my Grade 1 teacher wrote in my autograph book;
“Make new friends
but keep the old.
One is silver,
The other gold.”

I dream a dream of mighty wings,
And up to the sky I soar.
To look back where I lived once
And ahead, a new world to explore.

My wings are soft but also strong.
They'll hold me in my flight.
I tip and turn, I set the speed
As I travel through the night.

I am safe. No one can see.
Only I know where I've been.
And if they should ask, I tell them nought.
No one will know what I've seen.

For the night is full of secrets untold
That the day not allows to be shared.
But I have dreamt and sailed afar
And looked where no one else has dared.

I can live in this black hole no longer.
I have to find a way to make myself stronger.
If I stay here I am surely done.
I know I have not finished my run.

There is more in store for me to live.
There is more to receive and more to give.
Everyone has there own time to go
And mine is not yet, this I know.

I thought my life was over and through.
Without you it seemed the only thing to do.
But no, it is not meant to be.
There is more time on earth for me.

The will to live is strong and great
To shrink and give up is not my fate.
But to find a way to rise above
And still be close to your sweet love.

I look up from down this closing well
Now wanting to rise from this demon’s hell.
That is the goal for which I strive
To come through the end and make it alive.

No small feat is it to pull yourself through
But to thine self, you must be true.
I want you back with all my heart
But it is not my time to depart.

I see it one day, another road
And on it I will carry my load.
In time the load will be lighter to bear
But no matter how long, it will always be there.

Day by day I’ll make it through
And gradually I’ll learn just what to do.
I’m pulling from deep within my core
To build a life worth living for.