THESE FOUR WALLS

So oft I sit and mentally roam

beyond this place that I call home

to places with wide open spaces

filled with wonder, beauty, all God’s graces

beside the sea, along woodland paths,

babbling brooks and fields of grass,

mountains high that reach the sky;

but alas, alas am I

mostly stuck within four walls…

But near, a river flows and water falls

over ice-age rocky ledge;

Sometimes I roam the river’s edge

just to see what I may see

and talk with my God in whom I believe,

the God who made it all for me,

the God who sets my spirit free

to soar beyond, above it all,

escape the confines of these four walls.

My home is such a tiny place

and the neighborhood, bit of a disgrace

where happiness seldom finds room

among the empty lives and gloom

and a loneliness ‘times fills my heart

until I think I’ll break apart

and these four walls start closing in,

and my mind wanders to days back when

and I think I must get out of here,

find some place that has more cheer,

some place where I can actually breathe,

a place where my spirit can be free

as these four walls close in on me…

a place where breezes whisper and flowers bloom,

some place beyond these tiny rooms,

these four walls that confine

my life to less; away from here that I might find

the river flowing to the sea,

some great expanse to set me free

and nature’s wonder I may see,

share with my God in whom I believe;

God and nature, space and me…

And so I wander, sometimes mentally

to escape what is this life’s reality

when these four walls start closing in,

spend time with God and talk with Him.