Weeping

I knew a man who lived in fear
It was huge, it was angry,
It was drawing near.
Behind his house a secret place
Was the shadow of the demon
He could never face.
He built a wall of steel and flame
And men with guns to keep it tame
Then standing back he made it plain
That the nightmare would never ever rise again
But the fear and the fire and the guns remain.

We all have things in our past that are huge and angry, shadows of demons. We build walls of steel and flame to protect our fears. We hide them, saying we are okay now, but we live in fear of the past, of the skeletons in our closets, of our personal demons, our nightmares, our weakness. We've moved passed but are afraid they might appear and haunt us again, so we imprison them.

It doesn't matter now it's over anyhow
He tells the world that it's sleeping
But as the night came round
I heard its lonely sound
It wasn't warring, it was weeping
It wasn't warring, it was weeping.

We let people know we're okay during the day, but in the night when our minds are our own, we weep in remembrance. When we feel it's okay to feel vulnerable we experience the emotions again in privacy, the pain and the sadness.

And then one day the neighbours came
They were curious to know about the smoke and flame
They stood around outside the wall
But of course there was nothing to be heard at all
"My friends," he said, "We've reached our goal
The threat is under firm control
As long as peace and order reign
I'll be damned if I can see a reason to explain
Why the fear and the fire and the guns remain."

People come poking at your past, they come begging to hear of your problems, your weak spots, your demons. They wonder why you are still prickly about certain topics, why you don't want to talk about certain things, why you still get sad or mad. Tell them, "I'll be damned if I can see a reason to explain" myself to you, it's my life, butt out.


It doesn't matter now it's over anyhow
It doesn't matter now it's over anyhow

Let the past stay in the past, let bygones be bygones, don't dig and prod and poke people's sore spots. Let them protect their demons, their vulnerability. Live and let live.

Lyrics written by Dan Heymann, sung by Josh Groban, http://www.weeping.info/