Steve Strong: A Change in the Weather

There’s a change in the weather. A bitter helplessness in me.
Life and love once in my grasp now drifting out to sea.
Attitudes once sunny now seem doomed to cloudy skies
And people you once trusted are now telling only lies.

You can’t understand the mind of people looking at their skin
And the treachery within a heart is hidden deep within
But comes racing to the surface to bear its wretched fangs
Destroying any innocent who trusts or loves the thing.

You can blame it on the weather – say these changes come with time
And like seasons change, so people too, naiveté is blind.
Warm breezes change to winter snow and icy winds that freeze
And hearts once filled with tenderness, now pain that has no ease.

Like children born with promise - a laughing smile upon their face
The winds of age have hardened them, and scowls now take their place
While simple joys that we all shared, of trips, and games, and love
Become nostalgic memories of a home that’s torn apart.

Children have better things to do than listen to old men
Besides, they say, they’ve heard it all, it’s just the same old vent
And like the fools who insist on learning from their own mistakes
They travel down those well-worn roads to the darkness that awaits.

And lovers too who pledge their love, their life and all they’ll be
Forget those vows and plans they made for all eternity
And chase the dream that can’t be reached or thirst that can’t be quenched
Because the answer lies within the home they’re looking past.

O tormented souls with wanderlust who search outside their vows
O children of a loving God, who push against their bonds
If you could view your future with the wisdom of the past
And understand that wickedness never was happiness.

Tie down your tents and hold on as the winds of change will blow
Pound deep your stakes and steel yourself from the icy wind and snow
Protect your little ones from howling monsters as they roar
And lock your home against the wolves that beat upon your door.

And hold on to the fragile string of love that holds us bound
Draw near to struggling lambs who are crying to be found
Though rain may sting and snow may blind, and feet may feel the frost
Gird up your strength; you’re needed now to gather in the lost.