It's been twenty years since her carefree days
She smiles when she recalls those happier days
Days full of freedom to do as she pleased
To come and to go as free as the breeze

Her life has changed now
She doesn't know why
Sometimes it helps to just have a good cry

But then after that it's time to be strong
It's not her fault things went so wrong
Tears won't bring back what life used to be
It's time to move on, Cest 'la Vie!

She now sees her strength in a different view
Not in how many things she can do
But rather the times she can stop and smile
At walking without crashing down a Wal-Mart aisle!

Those nights that seemed endless
She'd sit and she'd stare
Lost in her thoughts, too tired to care
Why can't they fix this?!! She thought angrily
Why did this have to happen to me?

All things considered she knew in her heart
It was up to her to make a new start
To find a way to face each new day
With hope in her heart and sometimes to say
Thank You for hearing my whispers at night
Thank You for knowing I'm trying to fight
To be grateful and patient and strong through it all
To see there's still reason to want to hang on

To know that You're with me, You'll show me the way
To know that You hear me each time I pray
Brings peace to my heart and lessens my fears
And comforts me on those nights that there're tears

©2002 Judy Droste
Used By Permission

Another silent tear rolls down her cheek
Tears she'd rather on one would see
She sits in the dark alone with her pain
With thoughts filled with memories of sweet summer rain
Days filled with laughter, with plans and with dreams
With places to go, now it just seems
These things never happened, were they just dreams?

In darkness she prays for strength to endure
In silence she asks there'll be a cure

She asks for courage and dignity and reason for hope
Mostly she asks for new ways to cope
With silent tears that come with the night
She prays for the dawn, the new days light

A day she will try to be brave and give thanks
For sunshine and small things and courage to face
A day filled with challenges, small victories to claim
A day with the strength to cope with the pain

A glimmer of hope stays deep in her heart
She guards it fiercely refusing to part
With dreams for the future of days free from pain
Of slow, quiet walks in the sweet summer rain.

©2002 Judy Droste
Used By Permission