Ring of white rope bound to my soul
A glimpse of a life drowning away
My heart lingering on the edge of no tomorrow
Soaring cliff above all the rushing water

Let me lay this rope down
Unburden this weary soul
Never shrinking from what drags underneath the water
Grasping at unseen air to breath

Just take me down the river,
Don’t  fight the undertow
Just take me down the river
The sadness you don’t want to know
Just take me down the river
Don’t fight the undertow
Let this weary soul flow away now

No use fighting against the current
Sorrow and heartache is not the solution
Let go of the rope and all the pain it holds
Float on and take the hits

Raging rapids drives your rage
The drop off kills you bit by bit
Up to the last big drop
Into the deep, into the deep

Just take me down the river,
Don’t fight the undertow
Just take me down the river
The sadness you don’t want to know
Just take me down the river
Don’t fight the undertow
Let this weary soul flow away now

there's a dime on my bedroom floor
from the day i moved in
over a year ago, now
my broom bristles always conveniently
missing its ridged and silver edge
i guess i love the way its perpetual glint
reminds me of beginnings

and the black dress i wore
to my great-grandmother's funeral
its formality and pleating made me
feel mature and important
in fact, it's still hanging in my closet
hoping for a happier occasion
maybe even a celebration
but i'll never wear it again

come to think of it, i've never
been that good at letting go

like my scratched up cds from so many days
spent gliding around on hardwood in baby pink
ballerina tights while playing barbie dolls
dreaming about what it might be like
to love someone someday
my favorite one stayed in the dented player
until the day i moved away

there is ripped paper in a folder
from failed scrapbook attempts
that usually ended in poorly cut photographs
taken from the photo box in the basement
where mom kept the grainy originals
of all our childhood memories
captured on some ancient kodak

yes, come to think of it
i've never really been that
good at letting go

but as time moves forward i find
less and less value in the tangible
i suppose i don't care for objects like
i did as a child

these days it's mostly burning words
held inside my throat
of all of the things i wanted to
but could never say
and yesterday's breath in my lungs
because i hold that too tight, too

and people -- no,
the idea of people
frozen, remembering the exact moment
they became the sun i revolved around
and now they show up in nostalgic dreams,
evergreen never aging, never changing
inside my brain everything stays the same
and i end up longing for a time
i probably over romanticized anyway

no, i've never really been
good at letting go
i’ve always held on to what i know
but lessons learned come with time.
here’s mine:

letting go is the hardest part,
but it’s a start.

I wonder if you know
What we have now become?
You are that heart-shaped kite
Dancing above in air
While I grasp tight the thread
Not wanting to let go.

Letting go of that (which we think)
sustains
can be such a risky business
yet those who have taken
the letting-go process a bit too far
though having paid the ultimate price
of loss of all home-based comfort
leaving us  within its holdings
to be inclined to consider them,  off-based

are in fact possibly the most sane of all--
having chosen to no longer believe in the system..

some drunkards,  others madmen,  world-wanderers--
paying the due penalty of their  non-faith
in a system, having claimed to overcome

A homeless vagabond  can die  so all alone
filled, with all of the non-comforts
of the beautiful insanity,  of these

the ones
maybe the most sane  of all.

D Vanlandingham

"I really don't like you."  I said

And the water of all that love is
washed clean, even all of my inabilities

as I attempted to break, the unbreakable
once again.. yet once again

There are all of these years, you know--
all of these warm and cold, easily-difficult;  years

   too base for the show,   but still..

it did grow, within the glow.
And in one simple sentence

   I tried to let it all go..

But there's a water, beyond our abilities
that continues to flow

And I am floating away;
but the float seems so slow

This deep, flowing river
is the place I must go--

Back, into the waters
where there are mothers, sons, and daughters  

I've never been able  to fully let go