Voices

I hear voices rattling around in my brain,
haunting, and tempting, trying to drive me insane.
I don’t want to be fooled by them,
filling me with lies again and again.

The fear and confusion makes my heart pound like a drum,
I’m so worried and frustrated about what may, or may not come.
But I want to see life for what it really is and
be able to say “what is done is done.”

I’m so restless and hungry, I need some peace in my soul.
I feel lonely and abandoned, just like a little child’s rag doll.
I want to be loved and needed.
I want someone to fill my begging bowl!

Please, can anybody give me all these things that I need?
Will it cost me to have them, or will I have to die for them, or bleed?
I will do anything for them,
I would bow down at your feet and even plead.

Then I sense someone say that all I long for is free,
just there for the asking, but it’s totally up to me.
If I surrendered the chains of my old life,
I would receive in exchange, a key to liberty.

Exchange done, I still hear voices, but mere faint rattles in my brain,
still trying to haunt, and tempt me, still wanting me insane.
But I am not going to be fooled by them,
no more, no not never, ever again.

Copyright © 2016 John Radford

Turn Me Around
I have run out of steam on this ride of life,
been living for years on the edge of a knife.
I am slowing down now, soon I will grind to a halt,
I am blaming everyone. Is it my fault?

Everyone around me is feeling blue,
the world has gone mad, I don’t know what to do.
I can’t fix their minds or buy them a home,
I have been running flat out and now I am as dry as a bone.

Who will give me the strength to fight,
give me the mind to do what is right?
Who will pick me up and dust me down,
change my heart, and turn me around?

I am so frustrated, sad and weak,
I can’t help a lame man use his feet.
I can’t make the eyes of a blind man see,
can’t raise the dead, what is wrong with me?

Who will give me the strength to fight,
give me the mind to do what is right?              
Who will pick me up and dust me down,
change my heart, and turn me around?

I need something special, something new,
something I can only get from you.
I want to be a torch, a glorious flame,
I want to be a banner that is bearing your name.

Because only you can give me the strength to fight,
and give me the mind to do what is right!         
Only you can pick me up and dust me down,
Yes, only you can change my heart and turn me around!

Copyright © 2016 John Radford

It Don't Matter

I don’t care if the winds blow strong on me,
or if it rains so hard that I can barely see,
if  it  gets so cold that I shiver and I freeze,
or  the temperature rises  to one hundred degrees,
it don’t matter,
because you’re standing  next to me.
 
When troubles come flooding in my mind,
It’s so hard to leave my past behind,
I get so lonely and so insecure,
but there is one thing that I know for sure,
that it don’t matter, no, it don’t matter,
because you’re standing  next to me.

As everyone keeps letting me down,
and as  the times get tough, they don’t stick around,
all the friendship and loyalty fades,
life seems so dark, it’s like I’m always wearing shades,
but it don’t matter, no, it don’t matter,
because you are standing next to me.

Copyright © 2016 John Radford