Filament

My flashlight is broken

It’s the weirdest thing, I mean the bulb didn’t break

Feels like I’m stuck in the forest

There’s nothing showing me the way

And there’s not really a way out

So I pull out the battery

When I lick the end, it feels like that steely taste is still there

So there’s still juice in the tin to make this thing glare

Something else must be the matter — but in the meantime I’m shattering

The darkness is closing in and my sense of direction is scattering

Do I yell out for help? Do I curl up and sleep it out?

Will something dangerous wake up if I open up and shout?

So for a while I just lay there, and make peace with the fallen leaves

Might camp here tonight to get some fresh air and some sleep

When my friends and family call I just tell them I stopped to breathe

But even as I lay here, I’m thinking do I really want to stay?

Should I drop all my stuff and just, run away?

Where would I even go? And…my flashlight is broken.

Somewhere behind me there’s footsteps in the dark

There’s something hidden in the shadows, so I dig into the tree bark

Staying out of sight as much as I could so nobody could see

But then I realized from behind the wooden trunk a friend had come for me

I got mad and yelled at him, asked him why he wasted his time

That I was totally okay, and that he should’ve left me here to die

But inside I was screaming thank you as he extended me his hand

At least the pull of this other person would give me the strength to stand

Luckily with his flashlight, we found out what the problem was

My filament was busted, so there was nothing to light the bulb

Somewhere along the way, I guess I lost the thread inside

That converts the power within me into brightness that can guide

Although a friend in the darkness won’t completely solve this

And I’m still gonna have to replace what I’ve missed

at least I can lean on someone else’s light for now

To get me back out of the dark

There’s no guarantee I can ever replace that stupid thread

And the darkness isn’t something that will fully be put to bed

There’ll still be nights that I get lost

Sometimes I’ll have to return to my new friends, the leaves

But for these brief moments when I see his shine

I want to try to believe