I hurt

The contrast between being sober and being high?

I never had to feel the tears other people cry...



I hurt...not for myself, but for others

Today I felt the pain amongst sisters and brothers

as a father and mother buried their daughter today

and for the first time in my life, I didn't know what to say

No joke or anecdote, no humorous remark

would ever shine the light in a room so dark

I was out of my element, I could bring no illumination

because up until today I've been in every situation

The ones people bring to me, to share and confide

but I've never had a child pass to the other side

So I cried...because that little girl was gone

and I realized sometimes maybe there is no dawn

Maybe not every dark cloud has a silver lining

because who could replace the light if one of my sunshine's stopped shining

If one of my flower's stopped blossoming, nevermore to bloom

could I ever step out from my dark, enclosed room

I've experienced a great amount of pain, so much it seems surreal

but that's the kind of pain I pray I never, ever feel

yet I felt the pain in the tears from a life cut short

Tears of the shocked, confused, unimaginable sort

and it's very easy for me to say "Cry unto the Lord"

"Your daughter is now entering her promised great reward"

because those are my beliefs, my unshakeable views

but would I be so quick to speak if I were in those shoes

Probably not...I'm sure it would take quite awhile

before I could muster up the strength and the courage to smile

Maybe Jesus would lift me within weeks...months...years...

or maybe he would just hold me while he cried my same tears

and if I cried until I died, until I too were set free

I'll know as I mourned for my child, the Lord mourned for me...



I pray for the fallen children, the sons and the daughters

Smile now, forever, amidst the peaceful waters...