The Lonely One

The Lonely One sits in a forest alone

Her back hard against a tree

Through the dark, tangled branches no light can be shown

As despair claims her will to be free

In a forest of fear, in an ocean of doubt

In a deepening ditch of despair

She surrenders her hope that she’ll ever get out

To the very thing keeping her there

The hopelessness sinks to the depths of her soul

Reaching places she once found reprieve

In what’s left of her heart she would yearn to be whole

If she only had strength to believe

If only she could find her own inner light

To guide her in hard times like these

But she’d searched and she’d searched till the day became night

There was no light in her she could see

Searching deep only left her more empty somehow

For she now saw herself through new eyes

Eyes that colored her world with the darkness she’d found

Looking under her foolish disguise

How could she have thought that a ridiculed girl

Who now felt like she wanted to die

Could ever find joy in this unhappy world

Where the only thing needed to fail is to try

Well, her trying had failed so she took in a breath

And resolved she would give up this hope

That a someone would come and reach through her distress

And would give her a reason to hope

Well, that never had happened and never it would

She thought as she wiped back her tears

But the torrent of sorrow crashed down as she stood

All the weight of her trouble-filled years

The Lonely One felt even lonelier now

As she realized as never before

No one ever could love her; she furrowed her brow

For she hated herself even more

Then she turned to start trudging through tangles and thorns

Moving deep where she wouldn’t be found

But she felt as she walked that she’d been here before

Simply going around and around

She was getting to nowhere by going her way

Reaching places she knew all too well

Every desolate desert she crossed every day

Only led to a thirst, not a well

But one drearisome day as she wandered her path

There was someone ahead walking near

His eyes full of sorrow and comfort, not wrath

But her shame made her cower in fear

As He came up beside her, He called out her name

Which scared her with calming surprise

“Oh dear! If He knows me, He’ll know all my shame!”

And she quickly averted her eyes.

My child, He called. “I’m no child of yours!”

She replied as she locked up her heart

For she knew if it opened it’d surely be torn

It was already falling apart

Then He reached out His hand, laid it soft on her shoulder

She felt herself melt to the touch

You’re never alone now, the gentle man told her

I’ll always be with you. I love you so much!

A part of her longed to believe it was true

That this love and acceptance were hers

But she thought of the pain of her past and she knew

The impossibleness of his words

“If only you knew me,” she said to the man

“All my failures and shame and disgrace

I’m too weary to finish this search I began

I will never feel love’s warm embrace.”

Her waters of sorrow as vast as an ocean

She struggled to keep it controlled

But her turbulent heart was now filled with emotion

That swelled all the tides of her soul

As she stared at the ground, she was scared to look up

For rejection was all she had known

But she saw in his eyes full of comfort and love

A sorrow that rivaled her own

My daughter, He said with the tears in His eyes

I know all your heartache and pain

All your troubles and tears, all your fails and your tries

And this love that you’ve tried to attain

All these trouble-filled years you’ve been searching and trying

To find your own way in the dark

But you failed and you’re lost and alone and you’re crying

You try, but you’re missing the mark

The waters that filled her, she could not contain

As they swelled with emotion inside

Who on earth was this man who knew all of her pain?

Broken-hearted, she broke down and cried

Then the One who had shown her the pain of her past

Began mingling His own tears with hers

As He shared in her grief, she found comfort at last

There was healing for all of this hurt

I love you dear daughter, I hate when I see

That you’re shackled to sorrow and shame

But I’ve already taken your guilt; you are free

To have all of your sins washed away

The Lonely One realized she had been a slave

Enchained by herself to a lie

But she wanted so deeply this life that He gave

Where the only thing needed to live was to die