Barren Land

Those were the days of lightning and rum

We’d sneak to the cliffs where the smugglers had come

Watch them secure their contraband

That would support the people in that barren land

Some claimed their actions were a felony

That didn’t mean much to you or me

For without it, children like us would starve

Never to realize the life they’d carve

Now we are gone from that treacherous cove

Smuggling no longer provides a treasure trove

The footsteps we left in the meager sand

Disappeared with the storms in that barren land

We left and went our separate ways

Chose to forget those lean, hard days

But a bond is forged when you share a fight

And I still think of you in the dark of night

If I come back this way

If I come back this way, we’ll pick up where we left off

But what we had then, was really not enough

And you don’t want to change: is it fear or is it greed?

So I will stay away so we can both be freed

When it all began, I believed that it was love

That true love excuses, and is sanctified above

But as time slipped by, things felt a little wrong

Now I’m left wondering if together we belong

If I come back this way, we’ll pick up where we left off

But what we had then, was really not enough

And I don’t want to change: is it fear or is it pain?

Shall I stay away, or shall we try again?

We both were blessed with all that we had shared

And no one can deny that we both really cared

But life is complex, and often very strange

And the fates pull on strings outside our human range

We cannot control the situations that we face

Only our own response in every time and place

Hopefully we choose with wisdom and with grace

Sidestepping grievous sins impossible to erase

I have loved you then, and I still love you now

If I only could, I'd let you know somehow

Without falling back, into our patterns or our pain

I wish you only sunshine, even amidst rain

But if I come back this way, we’ll pick up where we left off

And what we had then, was really not enough

And we don’t want to change: though we have as time moved on

It seems our moment came: came, and then was gone