Eyes On the Stars

Long before your first steps, you traverse off the beaten path.

Our roads prove unique, a mold exclusively for our footprints,

yet no matter where it leads or how it bends, 

they share the same dirt, connect and branch like one another. 

Perhaps not the same times or same happenings, but close enough

to know we aren’t alone in our travels. 

Our pace may not align, our terrains may differ, the forks in our road

may appear at separate moments,

though every road is bound by 

the same love and heartache, same despair and joy, same humanity and blood. 

The unknown is uncomfortable, though not to stop us,

to help us grow alongside mighty oaks.

We grow, our path grows, and our tribulations grow;

twists and turns we’ve learned now change, bushes and branches block

what lies ahead, roots and rocks lurk to trip us, 

glimpses of travelers ahead stir doubt in our guts. 

Are we falling behind? Are we lazy? Are we wrong?
We spiral in our minds, losing focus of the road,

and obsess on questions and images which only have us

lose track of what guides us: 

the stars.

Little burning passionate fires so far and so high

to lead us in the right direction, to where and who we need to be. 

They dangle above, and we follow as a moth would to a flame,

dependent on its hope, its reassurance, its knowledge

to show we’re doing this right.

When roadblocks fester into a storm,

when we’re drenched and scared and lost and searching,

when we shift our eyes on what goes wrong rather than what lies ahead,

we lose our stars. 

We lose our passion, our security, we no longer know

if light remains at the end of the tunnel– where is the end of the tunnel?

We lose our stars, we lose our hope,

we lose ourselves. 

It’s frightening, yes, to be trapped by wind and rain 

and no escape from the pain, 

yet no matter how dark, the stars will never burn out. 

They’ll disappear from sight for some time, we’ll be left on our own

through the eye of the storm, 

but the world will keep turning and the days will keep passing by.

We grow, we shift, we see the light when others may not.

The stars never stray from beside our path, no matter 

if we’re blind to them for a while.

Stars are a constant, and so is our road;

your path doesn’t end from a storm, my dear,

it turns stronger.