He was swept out to sea and lost to the treacherous waves
His head broke water once or twice but he couldn't be saved
God did smite him to spite him for all  the love that he gave
And he looked up to heaven and he forgave
As he washed away there was no earthly thing that he craved
For what good does it do to curse
When disaster strikes you while you're at your worst
And you are stuck wishing the waves had taken you first
And dragged you out forever to sea
He found himself unable to break through the current, so he ceased to be
His forlorn lover waited like a stone upon the beach
To catch just a glimpse of the man she could no longer see
A man who had taught her what it was to be free
Now is it fair that he had to go?
Is it right that nobody knows
Where his soul went after his body went down below
Dragged out into eternity by the undertow
So she sits and waits for his return
Though it was long ago that his fate was learned
Because still her body yearned
For his seasick touch, caring and concerned
Then one day she finally broke down
As the waves receded and there in the sound
She found his body drowned
And his soul was no where in sight
The whole time he had watched her on that beach
Forever waiting and wanting but out of reach
"I'll be here waiting forever" he silently screamed
Just waiting for her to cease to be
And as she walked out in the waves
She looked to the sky to not be saved
And at that point she was filled with dismay
She didn't know if she'd find him there
At the end the air burst from her lungs
The ******* sound of the sea made her undone
And they were reunited as one
Two souls lost forever at sea
There was such beauty in her death
Her fearless attempt to reach across the stretch
of desolate darkness past the confines of the flesh
Just to find that she would be with her lover yet
Under the waves forever

They can never take away our pain
They can never understand all of our disappointments
They will always judge us but they will never know
We are not our failures
Do you remember times gone by when
You just felt like touching the sky and
Anything felt possible then?
Then time went by, things went wrong
With our mistakes we believed we belonged
Our mistakes led us on and on but
We are not our failures
Please believe the words between you and me
Please just see that together we
Can put to rest all of our failures
And voyage into tomorrow unafraid of falling rain
Because together we will conquer pain
We will make it through just the same
They make us who we are
Teach us lessons on the way
But they are not all of us
We are not our failures

Today I found a friend
Who knew everything I felt
She knew my every weakness
And the problems I’ve been dealt
She understood my wonders
And listened to my dreams
She listened to how I felt about life and love
And knew what it all means
Not once did she interrupt me
Or tell me I was wrong
She understood what I was going through
And promised she'd stay long
I reached out to this friend
To show her that I care
To pull her close and let her know
How much I need her there
I went to hold her hand
To pull her a bit nearer
And I realized this perfect friend I found
Was nothing but a mirror


Written by Shannen Wrass
Copyright © 1995 Shannen Wrass. All Rights Reserved

When I was sixteen
I picked up my life
And moved across state lines
To a town full of strangers
And emptiness

And though the emptiness seems cliche
There is nothing as full and rich as your home town
With its familiar faces
And places
And ways.

And so that first summer there
I floundered
I slept too much
And I ate too little
And I ached for a home that didn't even want me
Or so I thought

But it's not that I abandoned it
It's that I was taken from my home
And told to replant and cultivate roots in impossible soil
But my roots have not cracked the surface of this new "home"
But when I go back to my real home
I go to visit my roots
Where I could have grown strong and sturdy
And maybe not lost the boy I loved
And the family I'd cultivated
And the memories I missed.

If absence makes the heart grow fonder,
Then maybe I've fallen too hard for my home.

But love is love is love is love
And I love and miss my home.

I find myself thinking from time to time,
About everything we could be but I know that I'm,
Foolish and in some ways abused by myself,
Because I get my hopes up to have them crash and I felt,
Alone and scared when I thought you weren't there,
But I realize now that you never did care,
So I hide and I guard myself from the world,
My heart so limp yet so tightly curled,
Around you my dear for you must know,
That my heart still won't let you go.

They sent me to a place far away through time and space
Deep in the woods where there was nothing safe
They told me it would fix me, program me to behave
I'll never be able to hide the scars that place gave
Locked away, beaten, berated and abused
It wasn't until later that it came out on the news
Only then was it shown that the horrors were all true
It helps to explain why the survivors are so few
They set us up for failure; set us up to lose
For most of us death was not a hard option to choose
I remember when Karlye hanged herself inside
A bathroom all alone and the staff left her to die
The behavioral modification was nothing more than just a lie
In a land with no liberty anything would fly
They flashed horrifying images rapidly up on a screen
While we listened to audio of tortured souls that screamed
Nothing there was ever what it seemed
Stuck inside the hell of Spring Creek Lodge Academy
Solitary confinement for days on end
Watching in horror as they beat your best friend
Within an inch of his life, again and again
From that day on you didn't want another to begin
They broke my mind to pieces in that place
But not matter how they tried my soul they couldn't take
Others weren't so fortunate; I've been to so many wakes
So much pain came from that place it would be impossible to fake
I hope this is the result you were looking for
When you had two men come in the night and take me out the door
I didn't talk to you for months, I came back forever changed
Like an animal, self destructive, angry and deranged
It didn't program me into the robot you wanted me to be
There is a reason over half of my fellow prisoners won't be seen
A suicide rate like that is so high
I don't blame a single one of them
Though you tried to take away their rights, they had the right to die
The only question left to answer now is why?

Surrounded by the multitudes yet feeling so alone
Dreaming of your drug abuse while out there on your own
The silence plays a different way when you are lying by yourself
Somehow you found something so special in a connection with someone else
It's killing me to have to see the distance play its part
But the distance became much smaller when you lifted up my heart
Still sleeping here without you has a withering effect
So get here soon so me and you can sit down and reflect
And pierce the veil of quite loneliness in ways we can't expect

I found her bright and beautiful hiding in plain sight
When we met it was immediately set; it felt so right
We only had met in person for one day and one night
But if she asked me to stay forever I just might
There was no time; no space
Nothing but the two of us in that place
Two souls touching with caring grace
While everything around us faded away
With her I would forever stay
There is no doubt I will love her every day
Do my best to make her happy in every way
Because she means so much to me
We understand eachother in ways hard to believe
It might not be easy but I couldn't see
Something so beautiful wash out to sea
With her forever is where I want to be
My love and I, we have been hurt before
She doesn't deserve to be hurt any more
And the kindness she shows makes me so sure
That hurt is not what my future has in store
She means more to me than words can express
She deserves the best and I will give her nothing less
There is no thing on this earth
That could stop me from reaching her
Her kindness and humor is what I've always looked for
No mountain too high or distace too great
Could interfere with what can only be fate
She has a beautiful soul
I'll never let it go
She takes me as I am
She opens her heart to understand
And it's like I've known her my whole life
It seems like I've known her from the beginning of time
She opened her heart to me and offered it freely
And the she knows that she has mine
It won't be easy; relationships are never easy
But its so nice knowing we will be fine
I have never been so incredibly happy
This love is so amazingly devine
We have waited for all time
For this moment when our shooting stars collide
For this perfect moment
Where I am yours and you are mine