Handle With Care

Wake from sleep, rise from the deep

recess of slumber, still counting numbers,

Counting sheep to fall asleep,

but now it's time to count back from nine
And open my eyes to a dismal sky

that's dark and grey, just another day
Of endless rain and endless pain,

a brand new day, but it's all the same

Yesterday, tomorrow,

All the days collide
I can't tell them apart,
It's all the same inside

My heart's weighed down like it's lined with lead,

I want to crawl back into bed

Replaying words we never said

in this echo chamber in my head

Taunting, teasing, never pleasing,

this endless pain is never leaving

It's buried deep within my heart

and it's slowly tearing me apart

Grab a knife, not to end this life,

but to cut out all the pain and strife

But a knife won't do me any good,

the metaphor's misunderstood

It leaves my body mutilated,

matching my mood, devastated

Pain brings me down to my knees,

can't find the cure for this disease

I can't find a way to ease my mind

There's no answer to my prayer

Show me something, a way to ease the pain

And handle me with care

As I live each day with this disease

I can feel it slowly killing me

And though I know I need to move on,

it's just too hard when hope is gone

I don't think that I can take a chance

and put my future in someone's hands

When the risk of rejection is always high

and the pain that it carries is always nigh

So I keep to myself and I bother no one,

like a convict, always on the run

I'm running every single day

and I wish there was some other way

But I build up walls of pain and tears

and make sure no one gets too near

Because I can't let anybody see or hear

the way I'm brought down by this fear

Take me, don't break me

My soul has been laid bare

Please hold me, don't let go of me

Be gentle, handle me with care

Fear of failure and rejection,

I have never been accepted

I thought I was, but it was just a lie,

and now I think I'd rather die

Than put myself through that again

and take on pain that never ends

Because I don't think I can make it through

when what I see and feel may not be true

So I barricade myself inside

and see the world through despondent eyes

I don't see the good in the people I meet

and for me the cup is always half-empty

Some may call me pessimistic,

cynical, and nihilistic

But that's what life has done to me

and from this fate I can't break free

I'm haunted and taunted

My self-doubt fills the air

Silence my cries and dry my eyes

Show some compassion and handle me with care

Stand by my side, and I get tongue-tied

I get nervous and I get scared

Take me by the hand and tell me you understand

And that you'll handle me with care