In the Dark of Night

We all share an uncomfortable truth

One that there’s no escape from, no matter what we do

That’s wishing that somehow things would be changed,

we could have done it differently, somehow rearrange

moments from our past that we’d like to do again,

things we wish we hadn’t said, situations we wish had never been

We live them over and over in the dark of night

Somehow stop our ears from hearing, steal our power of sight,

for of we don’t hear the truth, and if we don’t see,

then we can pretend, and set our consciences free

For guilt is a hammer that keeps pounding away,

Harsh in its judgments, destructive in its ways

A never-ceasing spotlight, it’s an all-seeing eye

A loop of sound forever asking us why

Over and over, it plays its sad tune in our head

It keeps us wide awake, fills us with dread

We wish we could change things, make a wrong right,

change a total embarrassment, change black to white

We might as well try changing the course of a river

It would be easier than making things change, somehow make them differ

Still, we beat ourselves up, for years and years and years,

and exhaust ourselves; to have nothing change is our greatest fear

We’ve all heard the saying, “Time heals all wounds.”

But I’m here to say it’s not true, it never heals that soon

Some regrets last forever, some pain never goes away

Some of our penance can never be repaid

The real trick is to not let it keep you from keeping on

It can be minimized, but it’s never totally gone