Somewhere Where It's Warm

Oh god, take me somewhere where it’s warm

Somewhere these thoughts can burn from my bloodstream. 

Bubble and burst the doubt of my stagnation

Boil away the salt of my indecision

Place me on the hot plate and let me start from what’s left over.

Let me start over somewhere where it’s warm.

Oh god, bring me to the stream beneath the metal bridge

Cars roaring overhead, 

deafening our voices so we had to scream our adolescent wishes.

Standing with the cool rock in my hand 

I prayed for protection from failure and threw it into the rushing water. 

But not before it clambered and echoed against the metal bridge,

threatening collapse.

Let me stand in the water and pray instead for the courage to fail

Over and over and over again. 

Breathe bravery into my young heart, standing by the stream beneath the metal bridge.

Oh god, take me back to the fork in the road

where I left my dreams at the rest stop 

before turning right at the thruway. 

I stopped speeding down the dirt roads of dreamers

and got in line 

joining the stream of those going no more than ten over.

Leaving chaos behind me, I head straight for stability

I wanted so badly to feel w hole that I left the most holy pieces behind me.

The pieces that played and sang and took to the stage

that planned on running around the world 

spreading love in every nook and cranny

I had so many plans.

But the thruway took me to conferences and cubicles instead of festivals and vestibules 

for the sake of believing

I was doing the right thing.

Let me make a u-turn 

Take me back to the fork in the road

Take me back to pack up my dreams, my words, my aching heart, my music books and fleeting mind.

I would saddle them in the passenger seat next to my agency 

and fly down the dirt road,

knowing it was not me but my home that was broken. 

Take me back to the fork in the road,

let me abandon the rules I was taught about 

right and wrong.

Instead I forage ahead, listening to what I knew I wanted all along. 

Oh god, bring me back to the campfire 

The one I sit by in my memories

A man I do not know yet strums his guitar and sings sweet melodies

Not for attention but in jubilation of our shared gathering

This campfire dances against the backdrop of my closed eyelids,

a memory of a future vision that beckons and bids my innocence. 

It is a nativity of the person I was always meant to be. 

Bring me back to the campfire 

so I can forget the screams and

replay the memory to the soundtrack of these sweet melodies. 

Oh god, take me somewhere where it’s warm.