Pictures Of Horses

There were pictures of horses
On the walls of the local cafe
I hadn't been there for ages,
But I used to go every day:
Hanging out with a passion
To run wild with desire,
Always hoping I'd meet someone
Who would help me to put out this raging fire.

Like the boys in the alley
Breaking the glass to set off false alarms,
I ran from lover to lover,
Turning on and off to their charms.
When I got what I wanted
I would find nothing there
In a manic-depressive plane
I would fly too high, too fast and crash in despair.

Two explorers were wandering
In the jungle hopeless and scared.
Each was feeling abandoned
Searching for somebody who cared.
When they met one another
Each was sure he'd been found:
But alone or together
You're still lost and you can't help but look around.

Last night a lady was looking
For a needle out on the street.
The children helping said, "Lady,
Where exactly last did you see it?"
"In the house where I dropped it -
but the light is out here."
Someone said "You can't find it that way.
Take the light inside and face your fears."

All the people were talking
In their stalls at the local cafe.
Like the pictures of horses
On the walls, they hang there every day.
Captured spirits of freedom,
Too afraid to be real.
Only freedom there ever was
Is to say and do exactly what you feel.

Some things can never be learned through study. They can only be learned through relationship. Some choices are not a matter of wisdom. They are a matter of preference - and how can we know what we prefer without experience?

As students we learn about the world. As lovers, we learn about ourselves. Beyond all human wisdom there remains what life itself can teach us. It is by making our own choices and living with their consequences that life teaches us and we realize our uniqueness.

Some options are by their very nature mutually exclusive. We are free to choose, but what we choose is what we get. The lesson of the Lovers is that life is freedom, but relationship is essential, and with freedom comes responsibility.