A series of die rolls
And you still ended up being you
What's the chance of that?

When I was a child
I can remember being excited
When I could finally color
Inside of the lines

It was such an achievement to be able to do
What the adults had deemed
The way it was done
Color inside the lines
Think inside the box
Follow the rules
Do as you're told
But those are just surefire ways
To keep you from writing your own story

To live you must let creativity take hold
To untie your tethers
To guide your hand outside the lines
To show you how to think outside of the box
To remind you, it's not always about doing as you're told

To write your own story
You sometimes must color outside of the lines
Don't be afraid to have an original thought or dream

The other day
A friend asked me why life had to be so difficult
My response was that it was never meant to be simple
Life is just a lesson we may never fully learn

A constant struggle
Caught between heartbreak and love
Not only surviving, but living
Being kind and forgiving

Life is difficult because that is what makes us wiser
It teaches us to appreciate
The small things
The beautiful things
The overlooked things

The sound of the wind through the trees
Or crickets on a summer's night
Training pedals removed, skinned knees
Learning to get back up again
After being knocked down

Life is difficult because nothing worth having is ever easy
It's the fight that makes the time to smile that much more beautiful
It's the crying that makes us grow inside and even out
Taking life for what it's worth

A smile holds as much value as a frown
As up is to down
Life is sometimes hard
And sometimes it's easy
But it's always what you make it

I was the moon
And you were the stars
You were faraway
But I knew you were out there
I was surrounded by your presence
Yet never knew your touch
I was the moon
Traveling on my own
Wondering if we would ever meet

One day the light was different
When you came into my life
You became my sun
I was finally warmed by your touch
But it was ever fleeting

Always a chase
Rarely meeting
I was the moon
And you were the sun
Saying goodbye became a greeting

Every now and then our epic chase
Would turn into a meeting
An eclipse and melding of souls
Almost as soon as it began it would end
And we would begin our chase again

I was the moon
And you were the sun

No matter how stressed out
Or wound up
Or defeated the day, week, month, or year
Has made me feel
I'm always ready for someone to say the right thing
And that could always be as simple as *"Hello"

The art of loneliness
Isn't to be appreciated or loved
But it is felt and known by many
A lesson not taught but learned

Like flying in a rocket ship
Looking down and seeing everyone
And how the world seems to work
The feeling of not belonging with everyone else
Alone on your journey to fly alone

Always on the outside, looking in
Wondering what it would be like
To be at home somewhere

The real art of loneliness
Is how well so many of us hide it from others
Finding a career
Getting married
Being social
Yet never feeling at home

There are moments when we connect
Or cross paths with others that remind us
We aren't truly alone
It can be difficult to not become needy of these people
And we will drive them away
Because in the end
This is what we know

The art of loneliness isn't something you share with someone
We have moments that bring smiles and happiness
And those are the times when we grow tired
Because anything worth enjoying
Is better off shared with someone you love

This is the art of loneliness

Just wanting to hear your voice
To know that you were there
And would listen when I would call
The truth was
There wasn't anyone at the other end of the line anymore
Your line had been disconnected
I never got to say goodbye
I just didn't want to hang up