Darkening Road

Note: First paragraph is from A Ritual to Read to Each Other by William Stafford

If you don't know the kind of person I am
And I don't know the kind of person you are
A pattern that others made may prevail in the world
And following the wrong god home we may miss our star
 

Betrayals of the mind are many

And as time goes by, it continues to break

Horrors of childhood, my mind bids me to take

And relive them every day

We follow others like sheep
One after another in a forever line,
The leader leads with a honey voice
   But we are lost as we drift alone
Some cruel thing that takes place
But the true cruelty comes with not knowing

I reach for the shadowy dark
A region that lays in all life
We may fool each other with masks, but we should really see
For, we will be condemned to the dark

We awake people must remain awake
And break the line of that wool cover
   Discouraging others from following that sweet, seductive voice
Forever sending signals warning,
   The darkness is deep