Burnt To the Ground

How do you even begin to assess your losses While you house still smolders in the dark Can you even try to recover what has been damaged When the smoke still burns behind your eyes You step timidly over the edge of the rubble You once so grandly referred to as your life And stare into the charred abyss Wondering if it even matters where you start Or if picking up the pieces is worth it at all And some dark, sad, scarred, and tired corner of your soul That knows you may just be too tired to rebuild That part of you reaches into your pocket and fingers those keys Fighting with all its might, the urge to just drive away But oh how easy it would be just to cut your losses and go Like you’ve done a thousand times before and run Hide awhile in a bottle and a bed A carnival of chaos and self destruction With lights bright enough to blot out the darkness in your soul At least you know how that’s done, that at least you can do And this just seems to hard But as you turn the key in the ignition something clicks In the engine and your mind This may just be your last chance To finally get off the roller coaster That has only ever gone straight down And the instant relief of checking out and going numb May finally have cost too much So with shaking hands and stinging eyes you put down the keys and turn You take a breath and smell the smoke You pray to a god you’re not sure you believe in That you can find the courage to rebuild