Spiders, Snakes, Poisonous Leaves... It's A Jungle Out There

Spiders, Snakes, Poisonous Leaves... It's A Jungle Out There
By Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee

Artwork by Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee

A mind wanders in space

Visting the past, looking to the future

Experiencing emotions along the way

Memory of a mother who cried for her
In her last moments of life
Crying out for her, saying please help me

The mind can't bear to linger here
It travels to another time
Deep, deep into the past to a time

When a man held a child by her ankles
Hanging in the air, as he spanked her
Putting her down to the floor, left her crying

Shut up, I said... you had better stop crying
Or, I'll give you something to cry about
Beat you like a red-headed step-child

The mind sees pain in a little girl's eyes
When just before, there was a smile
Times like these, took all trust... smiles away

The little girl grew up, careful who to trust
The few people she loved in her life
She could count on both hands, and one more

Began to go, one after the other
Strange enough, they all didn't go in natural deaths
Grief filled the woman's heart, she knew...

Greed, illicit love affairs, drugs, tragedy woven together
In strange twists, turns of the colored threads
Making a life blanket with unusual patterns

Some areas too dark to explore
One didn't want to see what'd they would find
The pain would be too much

Other areas happy, colorful and bright
Sadly... the colorful areas were just sprinkled
Here and there... never lasting long

The mind wanders here, there
It can't bear what it encounters
It just doesn't do... to let this mind wander

It can never know what it'll travel to
So, let it stay here in the present
Where ... for the moment, it doesn't feel pain

The mind is like throwing a lasso
No telling the memory it'll bring back
One has to be prepared to take the pain

Because nine out of ten times
That's what it'll bring back
There are more dark areas than bright

In the blanket of life... of time
Worn areas... many threads broken
From a family who could never bond

Threads that can ever be rewoven
There are none strong enough
Sadly, each generation learns the hard way

Learns through pain, grief that nothing lasts long
No relationship can ever go the distance
No matter how much love, caring one invests

Black widows with hour glasses of red
Snakes with eyes green with envy
Mouths like poison ivy... every word a leaf

Spiders, snakes, and poisonous leaves
Will get each family member in the long run
Turn each into a non-trusting soul

Making each think the other is bad
When some times... there might be a person good
How would anyone know, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack

Some quit in time... too much pain
Can't take no more, no matter what
Someone's going to hate you, stab you in the back

Love from a distance, too much pain in the past
It's easy to run for safety, anytime something doesn't feel right
Don't get too close to me... I can't take the pain... I know love can't last

Not in a family who destroys all good
Spiders, snakes, poisonous leaves
Make one travel roads where there's 'family'... protecting oneself

Love from a distance... wave from far away
Wishful thinking ... no, let it go... it can never be
Spiders, snakes, and poisonous leaves... it's a jungle 'out there'