The Mountain

I see a mountain in the distance
It's snow white cap signals me
Saying life, hope, and love is mine
If I want it with all my heart
If I can lay down my fear
If I will leave the past behind
Below it's white flag, the color of surrender
Is beauty so grand
Lush green grass
Trees so tall and majestic
Rivers pure and sweet to the taste
Teeming with life - human, animal, bird
Everything life can offer and more
And it is free, free, free
If I will surrender to hope
Instead of surrendering to fear
If I will choose to be free
Instead of bound by chainlinks of barbed wire

Will I heeed it's message
A siren call ready to capture me
Or will I stuff my ears with wool
And turn my face away
Ignoring it's promise
Ignoring it's beauty
Ignoring it's offer of hope
Ignoring it's offer of life
Letting instead the siren call
of my own inner fears
Fill my hearing with noisy sound
Fill my sight with unseen horrors
Fill my senses with forboding
Fill my heart with phantom pain
Fill my soul with aching emptiness

The choice is mine
Will I run to the mountain
Or flee from it like a scared animal
The choice is mine
To be brave and strong
Or to be a cowering coward
The choice is mine
To let the past rule me forever
Or to leave it behind in the dust
The choice is mine
Which siren call to heed
To run towards the future
Or back into the past

The choice IS mine

(c)2000 VLGardner
All rights reserved.