A Troubled Man

Troubled thoughts
In a troubled mind
Of a troubled man
In troubling times
Will he ever find
His road to redemption

Or will he wander
In a never land
Filled with empty
And lonely things
Never finding
His way
Towards freedom

His music was his laughter
His music was his tears
And he never
Thought the years
Would ever change him

His music changed the world
His music shaped the morning
Now the world is in mourning
Because his shadow faded

Caught between
Being black and white
Caught between
Wrong and right
Was shame and guilt
His undoing

Did he live his dreams
Or did his dreams live him
Did we in someway
Lift him down
To be ordinary clay
Mired in the dark
That we live in

He could have been
Our light
He should have
Changed the darkness
But he lived in a land
Where he could
Never be the man
That we wanted

He never grew
Out of a child’s world
So he framed
His destiny
The way we
Frame our wanting

In the memories
Of our minds
He’ll be forever young
And we’ll
Always hear him singing

Children will dance
To his music
That he makes anew
In the place
Where he is going

His pain and sorrow
Are all gone
But our hurt
Is just beginning

Troubled thoughts
In a troubled mind
Of a troubled man
In troubling times
Can he now
Ever find
His own salvation