Headphones

When I slip these headphones on and turn the volume up high,

Tune out the world around me just enough to get by.

Submerge myself into another world somewhere my life can’t reach,

Drown out my life’s noise with a loud barrier that can’t be breached.

Melt into someone else’s troubles, listen to someone else’s pain,

Share in someone else’s trauma, someone else’s torment and shame. 

Let someone else have a turn at being let down,

Let someone else shoulder the world and try not to drown.

Travel for awhile in someone else’s shoes,

Walk in their regret for just a mile or two.

Let my burdens go just for a bit to give my heart time to heal,

Dissolve into the abyss to allow someone else a chance to feel.

Listen to the rhythm and beat of someone else’s song,

Enjoy knowing it’s not just my life that’s gone so wrong. 

Anything I can do to help me chase my troubles away,

Anything that will help me get through another day.

When I’m ready to rejoin the outside world once again,

And the troubles, trauma and burdens have all but been forgotten.

I’ll turn the volume down, inhale a deep breath and turn my nerves to stone,

Turn the music off, let the breath out and remove the headphones.