The many paths of Life offer
Each of us a different tour
On journeys, at the same times
Each living our walk through our own minds

As I sit worried that my boys
Will have to soon play with war's toys
Others I see live in love's grasp
Stepping into wedded bliss at last

People becoming moms and dads
Others crying they've lost all they had
Children in slums dancing to
Their little drums made of buckets, who

Don't know where their next meal's from
Still others live high lives upon
Their own mountains in castles
The rest of us only dream of

A father buries his child today
A daughter sends her mother away
To be tended to by others
A teen stops a bully from another

Attack on an unsuspecting foe
The teacher wrings her hands and shows
Emotion she'll be criticized for
As she receives a pink slip out the door

Caring for the children of
Moms and dads who work, not love
Mom and dad scream their frustrations
At each other over admonitions

From their broken children who
Will probably end up like them, too
As the circle of life goes
We are born into the dark throes

Of whatever our fate is here
As we must learn year over year
Who we are as compared to others
Finding our ways through this life's doors

To a state of mind, not place
As we cannot hide from our own face
That stares back at us in mirrors
Holding the eyes of our souls' terrors

So in a sky full of countless stars
What does it matter where we are
Our problems seem so small
When we consider other's plights, all

Dwarf our own despair as the
Arc of Life does guarantee
We will walk on other's paths
And never see the Footprints that

Show up beside our every step
It is we who won't accept
That we are held up in our lives
By Angels who keep step with our stride

Are we so consumed by selfishness
That we won't accept God's promise
To never give us more than we can bear
Trusting beside us He's always there

How hard life is speaks of our minds
If we don't surrender in kind
Of how we think things should always be
Not having faith that He loves each

Of His children, He does not give
Us the torment we Choose to live
He is only by us to balance
Our faltered steps when we chance

To break out of ourselves as we
See others live more miserably
He placed us there so we can see
We've so much to treasure gratefully

My grandmother said "In hard times,
Don't look up in dark envy,
Shield your eyes from coveting
What others have that's inviting

Always look down and you will find
Others who need you to mind
Their deeper losses, as you'll see
Life isn't so bad for thee"

So each time I start to cry
About the problems in my life
I remember Great-Anna's words
My consciousness seeks other worlds

In which I'll find another who
Needs me to hold them up, too
For who said God's Angels aren't we
The ones who He sent to set others free

Yes, we'll always need a hand
Up on the ladder to His Eden
But if we haven't reached behind us
To hold another's hand as we climb up

We'll only go as far as we
Helped another up gracefully
As we are here to be Light to
Others in darkness who need us, too

We are His gentle hand offered
To touch others in devoted Love
For without us, Who is God
Does He exist without Us