Songs of Two Kinds

...it's a hard-boiled life I'm livin', down here in this forgotten gutter,
no love nor laughter warm me, just hatred as I curse all that I don't have...

It's a blues song,
that I imagine women and men
of questionable character cry
as they work and lament
over the life they find themselves in
at the moment the lyrics leave their mouths.
Not just in 'a time such as this'
but since we ate off the apple tree.

It's a sad song,
one I imagine a misunderstood soul weeps
as they sit, blank faced, tears a'pourin' down
a sunken lo face,
debating the device
that will aid in cancelling out
their misery, for a moment,
or for eternity.
Be it a skyscraper, a jagged glass,
poison drugs, a loaded gun or
noose dangling from a tree.

It's a song of the heart
that weeps and wonders
if anyone is listening,
if anyone cares,
if anyone weeps along with them...
AAAHHH! The cry of anguish
of a soul dead to the world of light,
whose only friend is the dark cover of night.

I know One who loves you, I boldly say.
I know One who will lighten the load,
remove the device to slay,
and weeps and wonders with you
not just at this moment, but since
your life began, and was planned
and sits in the gutter invisible beside you.

I used to sing a song of desperation.
Sometimes the lyrics still prick my mind
and trick me into thinking I'm still back there,
still lowly, forgotten, and unloved.

But then the warmth of His arm around my shoulder,
His right hand holding mine,
His song of redemption and rebirth
jump-start my quickening heart
and my soul and His promise
sing a new song, combined...

...Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I'm found,
was blind, but now I see...

Come on, sing this new song with me!
And when you truly believe in Jesus
and the price He paid on Calvary,
you will join all believers
who leave the devil behind in the lowly gutter
to life a new life in His Kingdom Come,
with the promise of seeing His face
in Heaven
and living in love and peace for eternity.

Come on, sing this new song with me,
and if we slip and forget the words,
come relearn them 
conducted by the Trinity.
AMAZING GRACE!
AMAZING GRACE!