I'm locked in a death match with the cynic in me over whether or not to hope. It's not been going well but one of the two of us will still have to go. Perhaps if happenstance was lately just a little more kind. Perhaps if light in darkness was just a little bit easier to find. And, y'know, yes. For sure, there is more I could try. But the truth is so much smaller than even any one lie. At night, from the other room I can still hear you cry. Though miles and ages seperate me and you from him and those dark times. It has been a rough road and barefoot we've walked every inch. We've been beggers and heroes and labor and chore. The songs of Darwin's finch and the wheel turning Twain's riverboat toward shore. We've been the music of the spheres impressive in sound but nothing more. It'd be easier to hope if it were easier to live. That's the rub, I guess... I'll have to give. I've been thirty-five years in search of answers and I just don't know. It's me verse my inner cynic in a death match about hope. But, still one of us must go.