Story: The Bridge Without a Map
Verse 1
I thought I needed answers
before I took a step
a map of every corner
and a promise I’d be kept
I wanted every person
to remain the way I knew
I wanted life to tell me
what the next year planned to do
I called the feeling safety
when the questions disappeared
I called the answer knowledge
when the body stopped its fear
but every solid certainty
eventually would crack
and still I kept demanding
a bridge with its whole map
Chorus
There is no map of the whole bridge
just the plank beneath the feet
just the sound of water moving
just the place where edges meet
I don’t know what comes tomorrow
I don’t know where this will end
and maybe not-knowing
doesn’t need to be my enemy or friend
No map
no guarantee
just the next step
appearing here for me
Verse 2
I knew who people were once
I knew what love should mean
I knew the kind of person
I had always, always been
I knew what waking looked like
I knew how healing went
until the walls of certainty
became their own confinement
Then questions started opening
instead of closing doors
and everything I thought I knew
became a little less sure
the world grew wider round me
when the old conclusions dropped
and nothing fell to pieces
when the knowing finally stopped
Chorus
There is no map of the whole bridge
just the plank beneath the feet
just the sound of water moving
just the place where edges meet
I don’t know what comes tomorrow
I don’t know where this will end
and maybe not-knowing
doesn’t need to be my enemy or friend
No map
no guarantee
just the next step
appearing here for me
Bridge
Certainty said, “Trust me
I will keep you safe”
but certainty was only
a story with a face
the heartbreak still came knocking
the body still grew old
the future kept on breaking
every thing I thought I’d hold
And somewhere in the breaking
came a softer kind of ground:
I do not have to know this.
I only have to look around.
A breath is here
a night is here
a bird is in the tree
the unknown is not coming
to take anything from me
Verse 3
The bridge bent through the forest
and the far bank disappeared
the body whispered danger
because the end was not yet clear
I took one step, then one more
with the water running wide
and found the bridge was holding me
before I could decide
The end appeared much later
when the path had turned enough
not because I solved the distance
not because I learned to trust
just because the next small footstep
was the only thing required
and the mind that wanted all of it
eventually grew tired
Final Chorus
There is no map of the whole bridge
just the plank beneath the feet
just the wind along the railing
just the water underneath
I don’t know what comes tomorrow
I don’t know where this will end
and the unknown has grown spacious
where it used to feel like threat
No map
no guarantee
no future I must see
just this step
this breath
this mystery
Outro
I don’t know
and still the dawn arrives
I don’t know
and still this body lives
I don’t know
and still the river flows
perhaps not-knowing
is the closest thing I know
