Broken words on empty pages
Blood, sweat, and tears on stages
Two left feet and off-key notes
All alone in this empty boat

Painted shell masks coal within
I don’t know where to even begin
Lack of courage or lack of self?
Both clinging to life on the very top shelf

Trumpets blare and voices roar
I’m not the way I was before
Stretching, reaching, gasping for breath
The heart and soul have gone and left

Emotional strife is still the issue
Put down the score and hand me a tissue
The tears are not visible but they’re deep inside
Where they still insist on trying to hide

So start again, you know what you must do
Don’t think of messing up, just sway on through
You can’t control what happens now
It will all work out someday, somehow