Merry-Go-Round ggCasey Page

Round and round we go on this merry-go-round

The music is playing, the conductor is waving

The horses are moving up and down

Round and round we go on this merry-go-round

The meter is running, the adrenaline's rushing

There's no sign of slowing down

And all we can see is the next person's back

And all we can think is how to get ahead

So we hold on for dear life and every day we are found

Riding on this merry-go-round

The music of the carnival lulls us into apathy

The fire-eaters and acrobats throw us into a frenzy

And we are not aware of what is outside

Our dog-eat-dog and sensory world

And we don't even try to take a glimpse of the Life

Outside this merry-go-round!

One day I had a new thought

"Is this the way life's supposed to be?

Going in circles and circles and circles,

Chasing after conformity!"

So I began to look outside the big top

With a piercing and questioning eye

And I caught a glimpse out in the distance of a

Brilliant, luminous light!

It was as if it called out my name,

Drawing me closer and closer

And before I knew it, I was passing the vendors and clowns

The farther I ran from my carousel

The brighter and brighter this light became

I wanted to the other to see this light as well

So I thought I'd go back to my merry-go-round

And I bring the others to this light I'd found

But as I turned, the big top was gone

There was no carnival here

And replacing the frenzy and the shows and the light

Was a prisoner camp bathed in the night

And I cried out, "Where's my merry-go-round?"

Then I saw them, the people

Blindfolded by their own hands

Shackeled with their own lies

Prisoners of their own lives

In a fit of passion, I ran to their side

I yelled and I cursed and I screamed and I cried

And I told them,"There is no merry-go-round!"

But they just kept on walking around and around

And I realized...they are the merry-go-round.

I walk a path that's straight and narrow

There are no circles or curves to be found

The Truth is as straight as an arrow

Invisible on the merry-go-round

Copyright 2005 Casey Page

Commentary:

I wrote this in mind of the culture we're in...always riding on the merry-go-round, but never really getting anywhere. Sometimes our lives are just vicious circles, everything effecting everything else, and no obvious way of getting off the carousel.

Jesus is the Light, the Way of the Straight and Narrow, the Way of Individuality and Freedom...He is our only real way off the merry-go-round.