I watched the sun come up today
Its beauty made me cry
I watched the sparrows fly away
They flew so very high

I stopped to pick a garden rose
And held it in my hand
I marveled at the one I chose
Its stem too weak to stand

I smelled the rain before it fell
Before it made a sound
I've really learned to love that smell
Like nothing else I've found

I watched the moon begin to rise
As the sun began to set
A beautiful glow lit up the skies
Something I won't forget

But I'd trade it all for one more day
When you were here with me
It's really a very small price to pay
For the way it used to be

Enter a land of shattered dreams
And cast aside desires
The gates are built on broken smiles
And promises made by liars

A place where love's not welcome
For it simply cannot be found
A land of crushed and hollow souls
Where screams don't make a sound

A place where hope does not exist
And compassion cannot survive
Where second chances are just a myth
And pain and heartache thrive

A land where lakes are filled with tears
And memories once made, now lost
A bridge that leads to nowhere
With a void that can't be crossed

A place you've made with years of hurt
Your priceless work of art
An empty shell of a broken man
Welcome to my heart

A disease I've found that can't be cured
Contagious, to one and all
Your knees grow weak, your speech is slurred
Some say you even fall

It will rob you of all your memories
You can't even remember your name
Though some don't take it seriously
And been known to call it a game

It will cause you to do things you just don't do
It will literally control your mind
It can even cause you to lose your sleep
A disease that makes you blind

It will cause you to lose your appetite
Your food won't taste the same
You'll wonder why you just can't eat
This disease is surely the blame

Well, maybe by now you've figured it out
This disease I'm speaking of
The only sickness that has no cure
Is the one that we call Love

I've never seen the rain so clear
As I do when it floods her eyes
I feel the pain she's going through
Each time my little girl cries

How do I tell her that she's dying,
That her hero can't save the day?
Some kind of hero I turned out to be
I can't even say "It's okay"

Death is something she don't understand
I don't think anybody really does
She keeps asking me, "Will it be over soon?",
And, "I want it to be like it was"

What do I tell her when she asks me this?
I just hold her hand and smile
I say, "Don't worry sunshine, I know it hurts,
It will all be over in a while"

There's nothing worse than losing a child
It will tear your world apart
She says, "Thank you daddy, for being the hero,
That I carry inside of my heart"

As she utters those final words of love
She quietly closes her eyes
I gently kiss her on top of her head
As a piece of her hero dies

She would see it in the window
Each morning as she'd pass
The sun would make it come to life
This doll that was made of glass

Her eyes as blue as the deep blue sea
She was truly a vision of grace
Her mother marveled at her magnificent smile
Each time that they passed that place

This princess made of crystal
So fragile, yet so strong
Could somehow take her pain away
That she'd suffered for so long

Stricken with cancer at five years old
The chemo would come too late
There was nothing else anyone could do
To change this little girl's fate

They bought that crystal princess
And placed it by her bed
But two weeks later as the sun came up
They found the little girl dead

They put that doll made of glass
On the tombstone where she lies
And in the spring each time it rains
The crystal princess cries

At three in the morning she turns on the light
While clutching her teddy bear
She runs to the closet as they start to fight
Knowing she's safe in there

Her pillow is tucked beneath her arm
As she silently starts to weep
She whispers to Teddy, she'll keep him from harm
A promise, she can't possibly keep

Night after night for sixteen years
Her closet becomes her bed
Her nightmare comes true, it brings her to tears
As she finds her poor mother dead

She's all grown up with a son of her own
Married to the love of her life
But bound to repeat the seeds that were sown
She becomes the next battered wife

At three in the morning he turns on the light
While clutching his teddy bear
He runs to the closet as they start to fight
Knowing he's safe in there.

Poets will try to hide their pain
Where tears will go unseen
They'll hide the countless demons slain
With words they find serene

Emotion will always find their sleeves
It's part of who they are
A special way the poet grieves
To mend that hidden scar

A poet is lost until they're found
They just can't find their way
A silent scream without a sound
Will chase their pain away

A poet is made of different stuff
They're not like all the rest
Peace, they never seem to have enough
Until their sin's confessed

They're haunted by their need to write
Their ink made to console
For most are prisoners to the night
And they're born with a paper soul