At my worst, you taught me
how to feel again,
brought me places I thought
had already ceased to exist,
now I miss them.
I miss them all the time.

Without my compass, my guide
all I have are these thoughts.
Eyes aimlessly searching for trails
in undergrown forests,
hopelessly lost.

You could have left me
the way you found me:

a screen door that only knows how to open,
a playground swing causing accidents,
a walking precaution,
a sink hole trying to grow a heart,
something inherently broken,
something with missing parts.

But, you didn't.

You mended the hinges,
you took down the warning signs,
grew an entire meadow of wildflowers—
you patched me up with your love.

My cup is brimming,
and I no longer know
where else to pour.

As I sit and stare
From my lonely bar chair
While enjoying a casual captain and coke
filling the room with my cigarette smoke
I notice that, in my lonesome, dreary world
I am but a seed among redwoods

I cant comprehend the conundrum that is life
I've been at the edge of the reapers scythe
Caving in to the pressure and strife
Living under the dim, florescent bar lights.

I didn't come from a broken home
But I did create one of my own
In my mind, where no light shone,
In the deepest sanctum, my awareness had undergrown

I sheltered myself, locked away in a cage
Any thoughts of moving on I saved for another page.
I wrapped around the idea that I couldn't make it out on life's stage
21 was the end of the line for me
And going any further I had forbade

But, before I had realized
I rose from the ashes
Overcame the obstacles
And really took in life as is passed

Each fleeting memory I had I grasped it
I now understand how i got here
I've turned my life around, the drugs, the *****, the pain and everything that masked it
I trashed it. I dont want it, I dont need to have it

Here I am.
Moments in front of my parents garage
Suitcases packed,
Friends and family arrive to send me off with a "bon voyage"

I finally got it
The key to happiness was right in front of me
I've had it all along but somewhere I had lost it
I dont know why it was so difficult to see

It's that, we pave our own paths
And anything that is trying to stop us
Is only temporary,
We may hurt from the mistakes in our past
But as long as you are able to get up and own who you are now
Then you will forever be set free