A Song for Sammie

Dear friends,
            I’m searching for somebody—the person I can help the most through my writing. I don’t know her real name, because she’s a private person, but sometimes I call her Suffering Sammie. If you see her, or if you know where she lives, could you tell her I’m still looking for her? That I never gave up? Or could you give her my address: authortat.com? Because I wrote her a song. It seemed like the best way for me to let her know I care. Sometimes she won’t listen to reason.
            If you think hard, you might remember Sammie. She suffers a lot. In fact, her body hurts all the time, day and night. She’s always been a fighter, trying to persevere, but she’s worn out from putting on a brave face, and she’s getting desperate.
            She’s too young for this kind of pain, and she doesn’t know what to do. Because of her pain, she’s physically limited. She can’t do things like most other people her age. Her friends tell her they understand, but they don’t. And how could they? So she prefers to hide away and deal with her pain all by herself. But that’s no way to get better.
            She’s missing out on life—she knows it—and if feels like there’s nothing more she can do. It seems to her as if her pain will never end. She feels defeated, and she doesn’t know how much longer she can last.
            If only she could be free of pain, just for a moment! Even for the duration of listening to a quiet reading—just one page of a good, relatable story, about someone like her. Someone who suffered the way she does, then overcame, and even triumphed in the end. That would help. Her eyes hurt severely, so reading is difficult. But the tiniest boost from the right story might give her the hope she needs for tomorrow, the inner strength to carry on.
            She is precious to me, my Sammie, like a long-lost daughter, and I will never give up on my search. Thank you for helping me look. If you find her, we must celebrate together, with food and with singing! As soon as the one who was lost has been found again.

TAT

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Are You Sore and Lost and Broken

Verse 1
Are you sore and lost and broken? Cannot find a moment’s rest?
Years gone by since you’ve awoken, glad there’s breath inside your chest.
Have you hidden ‘neath the covers wishing pain would go away?
Every waking hour a nightmare, every rainbow black and gray.

Chorus 1
Come to me O weary warrior, roll your blanket back today.
Take one step, perhaps another; soft’n the hard and stiff’ning clay.
Lift your gaze up from the shadows. Take your mat and walk, arise!
Gift of life—how thin the window—bright the sunlight in your eyes.

Verse 2
Once you walked upon the meadows, felt the grass between your toes,
Wind a-whistling through the willows, smel’t the daisies and the rose.
Can you hear the geese a-honking? Building up their wings of flight.
All their focus, all their wanting, all together, what a sight!

Chorus 2
Come to me O weary warrior, think again on days of old.
Not too late to rediscover hearth and shelter from the cold.
There’s a Seed within you buried, finally cracked enough to sprout,
Only readied by your hardship, not some easy, gentle route.

Verse 3
Have you thought your life was over, head aflame with guilt and pain,
Mind and body never slower, words cannot express your shame.
Have you wished your life had ended, freed you from your agony?
Dread of ev’ry morning mended, no more pain beyond degree.

Chorus 3
Come to me O weary warrior, find your purpose once again.
Take my hand and walk before you’re crushed beneath your yoke, and then—
Sing with me and find the Music, search with me for worse-off souls,
Younger folk, alone and too sick, to survive life’s burning coals.

Outro
Come to me O weary warrior, bent beneath your heavy load.
Take my hand—I give it freely—walk with me along the road.
All your scars I also carry; where you’ve gone I’ve also been.
I will never leave, forsake thee; find your hope and joy again.
I will never leave, forsake thee; find your hope and joy again.

© 2023, words by Troy A. Thompson, M.D.
Music by Lori A. Thompson
All rights reserved
Instrumentation and vocals pending

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