Magic already exists
plain as day
known by another name.
We call it music.

I see strangers on the Internet
talk about healing their inner child.
It made me go inward.
Think
and think
and think.

About little me.
Three, five, seven years old.
What she wore
what she ate
what she watched on TV.

How she danced,
twirled on and on
without a care in the world.

And as I saw her in my mind's eye
and felt her in my soul,
my heart was filled with a Great and Terrible Sadness.

Oh, how I've failed her!
I've abandoned her laugh
her warmth
her light.

I traded her valiance for fear,
her voice for silence.
Her smile and bright green eyes
for a dull film over too-pale features.

Oh, my poor, sweet child.
I am endlessly sorry.
I have failed you.
Failed you.
Failed you.

Those strangers on the Internet
want to heal their inner child.

But now
I wonder...
Can my inner child heal me?

Fifteen.
Seems like a lifetime ago.
Or maybe yesterday.
When I think of you,
time stands still.

Oh, how I wish
I could tell you
just how I felt.
Those days when
you held my hand
would stop my heart.

I know I was silent
'cause I just couldn't speak.
Now I have my voice,
and it's only you I seek.

Seventeen.
You were older, wiser,
bigger, braver.
You were everything to me
and more.

Oh, how I wish
you spoke when
you had the chance.
Those days when
you smiled at me
would light the stars.

I know I was silent
'cause I just couldn't speak.
Now I have my voice,
and it's only you I seek.

Too late.
That's all I hear,
it's too late.
You're a million miles away.
It was just fate
that said you'd be
a memory.

I know I was silent
'cause I just couldn't speak.
Now I have my voice,
and it's only you I seek.

It's only you I seek.

Somewhere beyond the deep
is a place to which I journey
when I am asleep.

This place is neither cold nor hot,
big nor small,
near nor far,
beneath the stars.

It is a place to which I go
when I must run far, far away.
Far, far away.

Away from the circus,
away from the fear.
Away from the chaos,
away from the tears.

This place is my beckoning,
my caller, my finder.
My reminder that everything is alright
in the end.

My haven.
My truest and dearest friend.

The house by the lake
was nestled among the woods.
A crack in the winding road,
red and white and quiet.

Its windows reflected
the sparkling stream.
Like crystals dancing
in the midst of a dream.

The sounds are loud and soft
all at once.
Chickens, rowers, fishermen.
Silence, wind, sunlight
lapping at the shore.

I close my eyes to see it now.
How bright it is in my mind's eye.
Hello, my friend.
I'll be back again.

With water so blue,
the lake I knew.