Return to Life

A drab little world

soaked in dependable tension

choked with order

fights to keep me marching in time

to the endless dance of cold cubicle air

of shallow chatter and pantyhose rules

and other things that just don’t matter

The little world wants me to wear it like a suit

and take it with me wherever I go

so I’ll be constantly surrounded

in dull shades of never-ending conformity

where the music is always the same five songs

slow and steady, a lifeless dance of the same old steps

But I want the heavy drum beat

the bright lights and the sleepless nights

where answers are sought and whiskey is thrown back

not to kill the nagging reminder of the same old tomorrow

but to feel the burn and remember why I came

So I close the door on the little grey world

The sky has grown dark and everything has changed

since I’ve last been awake

Street lights and starlight

throw down a path under the endless indigo sky

The sound of my boots on the broken cement is secondary

to the world around me

to the music and possibilities

as I return to life

by Christina Lynn Lambert

The idea for this poem began a long time ago when I was bored and frustrated with an office job I was stuck in. I left this job to pursue my masters degree and from there, I’ve tried a few different careers, determined that I wanted to find work that I loved, that didn’t make me feel like a lifeless zombie who existed only to survive. It took me a long time to put the struggle into the right words, to describe the scary but thrilling feeling of leaving a job that was slowly stealing pieces of my soul. I left this job and career field to strike out on paths that had no guarantee for success and it’s been a scary, weird, and wonderful journey so far.