[ There Were Years When All You Wanted To Do Was Just
     Lay Down & Drift Off Into A Deep ]
[ Long Sleep ]

[ Could Anybody Take Your Pain Away? ]
[ Even For A Day? ]

[ If You Took All Of Those Pills, Would That Do The Trick? ]
[ You Had All Of Those Bottles From Which To Pick ]

[ Days Were Dark ]
[ You Had No Drive ]
[ You Felt Like You Were Stuck In Park ]
[ You Failed To Thrive ]

[ The Nights Were Even Darker ]
[ The Bad Images In Your Mind Were Always Larger ]

[ The Sounds Of That Person In Pain ]
[ You Heard Over & Over Again ]

[ Being Stuck In A (3) Hour Riot ]
[ Has Stolen All Of The Times When You Needed It To Be Quiet ]

[ There Was Nothing You Could Do ]
[ The Whole System Failed You ]

[ You Had To Listen To That Kid Getting Beat ]
[ All The While The Powers That Had Been There ]
[ Directed You To Take A Seat ]

[ This All Became Your PTSD In A Nutshell ]
[ So For So Many Years Your Memory Dragged You Through
     Hell ]

[ You Can’t Say (& BACK) Because Sometimes Your Memory
     Left You There ]
[ These Kinds Of Memories You NEVER Share ]
[ Unless You Wanted To Scare ]

[ Whoever You Were Talking To ]
[ Whenever You Were In A Flashback You Never Knew ]
[ What To Do ]

[ So Your Dark Days Extended To (21) Or (22) Hours Long ]
[ Everything In Your Head Was Wrong ]
[ You Stopped Feeling Strong ]

[ You Never Turned To Alcohol Or Any Illicit Drugs ]
[ You Never Turned Into A Thug ]

[ But You Did Turn Into Your Worst Enemy ]
[ You Could Not See ]
[ How Things Should Be ]
[ All Because Of Your PTSD ]

[ If Only You Could Go To Sleep For A Day Or Two ]
[ Would All Of These Sleeping Pills See You Through? ]

[ They Almost Did That ]
[ I Was @ The Count Of (2) On The Mat ]

[ But Then You Woke Up One Day ]
[ Then Decided That Wasn’t The Way ]

[ Everyday Since Then, You Walk The Fine ]
[ Imaginary Line ]

[ Do You Want To Go? ]
[ Or Do You Want To Stay? ]
[ Do You Always Know ]
[ That It Is Okay If You Are Not Feeling Okay? ]

[ You Say That Only The Wise ]
[ Recognize ]
[ The Prize ]

[ Through All The Angst & Strife ]
[ The Prize Is Living Your Life ]

[ The Best That You Possibly Can ]
[ & Try To Be Your Biggest Fan ]

~ Ka hopena ~

[  Mahalo  ]
[  A hui hou  ]
[ Aloha  ]

[  Na  ]
[  Lopaka DeVoe  ]

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