Jane Siberry You Will Be Born
You will be born into a strange and desolate place
It will be called, 'The average home'
The times will be restless and full of uncertainty
It will be full of violence, the end of the century
You will silently question this of your mother
As you drink your milk, and you watch her move away
And there will be no answer
You will begin the long process of shutting down
Your countenance will reflect less light
And later when you look at pictures of yourself
You will wonder, you will give up your backbone to the T.V.
And you will accept a value system
Putting forth lies and hatred and intolerance
As acceptable in the name of love
No one will step forward from the shadows saying
"Expect this, it's part of the path"
You will discover drugs and alcohol
And you will have a good time
You will have a good time for a long, long time
And you will have a good, good time for a long, long
Oh way too long time
And you will rush headlong towards your
Bottom line in an instinctive attempt to heal yourself
You will finally go to AA to learn
What you should have learned in Sunday school
And then you will give yourself permission to cry
And you will cry and cry
And your friends will move away nervously
And you'll feel like a fool
And you will be alone, and no one will step forward
From the Shadows saying
"The journey forward includes movement
Through despair and darkness"
And you will be gathering strength
Even if you don't understand
And certain words like love and integrity and intensity
Will be drawn into your spine
And then one day
You will look up and you will look over
You will look up and you will look over
And you will get up and you will go over
And you will turn off the T.V
Precious candles
Your light is your own