I heard him Again last night Outside the window Somewhere Just beyond What I could see So I locked the door Checked it twice Pulled the curtains Lay awake Listening ... I know that sound I've heard it All my life Something bad Is coming Something bad Is coming Something bad Is coming ... So I prepared I built walls Saved things Hid things Avoided things Held people Too tightly Kept one eye On the darkness Just in case ... Morning came The lion didn't ... Strange I barely noticed Because by breakfast I was already worried About another lion ... This one Might take my money That one Might take my health Another Might take someone I love One might embarrass me One might leave me One might judge me One might be waiting After death Lions Everywhere ... And I became Very good At surviving lions That never came ... I canceled the trip The lion never came I didn't make the call The lion never came I kept my mouth shut The lion never came I didn't trust Didn't risk Didn't ask Didn't go Didn't love All the way Because somewhere In the grass Something Might be waiting ... The lion never came But something else Didn't come either The conversation The adventure The chance The touch The mistake I might have survived The life I might have lived ... Oh ... Fear didn't need The lion It only needed me To believe in one ... So every night I fed it Another thought Another headline Another memory Another possibility What if What if What if And somewhere Inside my mind The lion grew Teeth Claws Eyes Breath Until something That wasn't there Could keep me From going somewhere That was ... Tell me How many things Have I survived That never happened? How many arguments Have I rehearsed That were never spoken? How many endings Have I mourned While everything Was still beginning? How many nights Did I sacrifice To tomorrow? ... And how many mornings Did I wake Discover I was still here And never once Thank the darkness For being empty? ... The lion never came The lion never came THE LION NEVER CAME ... Wait That's not completely true Sometimes The lion comes People leave Money disappears Bodies get sick Plans collapse Someone we love Dies Life happens And when the lion Actually comes Something surprising Happens We meet it Not yesterday Not tomorrow Here Now We cry We move We decide We endure We ask for help We do What the moment Requires Just like the body Always knew How to do ... The real lion Can only meet me Now But the imaginary lion Can chase me For thirty years ... Oh ... Which one Has taken More of my life? ... So tonight I hear something Outside again The old sound Something bad Is coming Something bad Is coming Something bad Is coming ... My hand reaches For the lock Then stops ... I open the door ... Darkness Wind Trees Night Nothing ... And for once I don't ask Where is the lion? I ask Who Has been making That sound? ... Silence ... Then somewhere Very close Inside my own head A whisper ... Me
