we spend our last few years
      much as we spent our first few                                                              ­    
                                                                ­          
trying to get someone to pay attention to us
        wishing we could eat grownup food
                   hoping for better toys


           And waiting for Mom and Dad
                 to come and get us
                    and take us home.

The world is wild and beautiful
The dark is vast and deep
But I don't know if I'll survive
To pass this way again

negative words cut into me
they leave their wounds

old cuts flare up now and then
I hear the world screaming
I am not good enough,
even when I am the only person around

the negative voices in my head
are slowly quelled by the daily spiritual path
based on love and service,
and each subtle damage is being transformed
to scars that teach

It's okay
To do without
When it's providing
Nothing
Within