Made this up by singing it to myself in the car on the way back to North Carolina after hearing a professor's presentation on her work in Africa. Somehow it brought into focus the intersection of failing to take risks and yet never being satisfied with what I've got.

Lyrics

Copyright 2002 Dave Nealon

My life reminds me of that woman who impressed us with her slides
Of the month she spent in Africa adopted by the tribe
But there's synapses in her network with her global village friends
And when she landed back in Virginia, it left too many loose ends

The poets all urge us to seize the day, but I step so cautiously
By the time I make a decision the day seizes me
And I'd need some initiative to leave here, but I'm stuck in my inertia so I stay
Besides, it's me, not my surroundings; my own mindtrap I can't escape
I'm gonna break away tonight

I'm like that man with few talents
Who's so afraid of risk
That he buries all his potential
And loses that little that's his
And I'm chafing at the collar
That keeps me jailed in fear
An electric fence that's buried so no-one else even knows it's here

Just once I'd like to meet the challenge; tonight I'll take the dare
To make something from nothing and reap where the ground bare
Faith is insurance on your longings, down payment on your dreams
And love defeats ambivalence, and hope is more than it seems