Once upon a gentler time
The days lay quiet in our hands
All sorrow lived in distant lands
While laughter shaped our rhyme
The lion guarded all with pride
The jungle felt like home to me
That world, the one I longed to see
With you here by my side
My tears became a hidden fall
That watered both the sun and rain
Your arms, the shelter I would find
Through happiness and pain
You said, “Go forth, the world is wide,”
And with a wink, you eased my fear
Those words still echo through the years
A compass at my side
Now age has pressed its weight on me
And time recalls the love I’ve lost
No map can take me back again
Just echoes counting cost
Yet still you guide me as before
Your love surrounds me, pure and strong
A quiet song within my heart
That lives forevermore
I see your gaze in my child’s eyes
The same bright spark you left behind
And in their laughter, I can find
The life that never dies
I close my eyes and drift to sleep
Believing you are always near
Not by the hand, but in my soul
You leave me without fear
