From The Archives

In the process of packing and attempting not to transport unnecessary stuff with me in the move, I came across some poems I had written my Senior year of high school. My elective my last semester was poetry, and while I don't consider myself to be a poet (rather I see myself as a free-form writer), it was nice to see how even before I realized it...writing has always been my safe place. I wrote this poem for a poetry contest, I didn't win, but I remember it was a really big deal that I had the guts to try out. So, here is one of two poems I submitted.

The Song Within Me

Locked up with my hands tied behind my back
With nothing but a slight memory of what used to be my song.
I couldn't even play the music of my pain
I was like a plant in the desert, totally dry
No longer did I have the strength to try
My song had been lost in a prison of my heartache
Bound by the chains of painful memories
So, deep in this prison lay my song
It was gone for so long, I thought it was lost.
I had no hope and had stopped trying to find it.
Then, while in this prison you came to me,
But you came empty-handed, without the key
And still, you stayed next to me and loved me...
Beyond my prison and beyond my chains
In your ears my song still played.
When I couldn't find the lyrics to what was once my song,
You hummed the melody and tried to remind me.
When that failed, you danced to its rhythm and hoped I'd remember.
But still there I stayed, bound in this prison
Searching, but not finding the song of my soul.
Until one day, I started to hear it again.
With each passing day, another verse uncovered;
I had finally found it; the lost song within
When I looked up the chains were gone
And you held in your hand a ring full of keys.
Then I asked, "Where did you get the keys that freed me?"
You answered. "These keys didn't free you, you freed yourself.
Everytime you searched inside to find your song within
Another link of the chain would disappear.
The prison you were in, in which your song lay
Was only a picture of what you looked like inside.
I came to be with you, so you weren't alone
But it was you, yourself that found your way home.
And now you freely sing the song within you."
I looked up at you with tears in my eyes
Because it was not I that freed myself
It was you and your love...your love was the key
You freed, the once lost, song within me