10 miles off Utopia

Take a left off of misery st
a right onto happiness rd
floret past despair drive
drive right over the torment train tracks
go straight on sunshine lane and you are there
your perfect paradise
your utopia

the directions sounded so simple but
they don't talk about the twisted roads
they don't mention the dirt paths veiled in thornd bushes
they don't tell you what to do when the gps breaks
and your left navigating with a weak compass

I ended up ten miles off
ten miles
the only separation between the inferno and the paradise
ten miles

They were all wrong though
the inferno they spoke of wasn't helpless
it wasn't full of vigilantes and vagabonds
there were just people

there was the mother who'd wondered off the path to find food for her children
the son who'd been to busy looking for his mother to find the sunset
the older man who'd said goodbye to his wife before forever came
the soldier who'd forgotten himself on the battlefield

just people
wondering souls who craved the light but got lost in the dark
ten miles
ten damn miles
paradise looks different at this angle
looks fabricated
looks blinding
looks claustrophobic

the sun may not shine here
the flowers might not grow
the people dress in rags rather than ballgowns
but they still glow
and the cracked cement they walk on shakes with hope
with strength
ten miles

ten miles from paradise is the promise land
where people do not live in perfection
they find a way to build it
ten miles from paradise is utopia
utopia looks different
the ground is cold
but the people have never been warmer
and the stars don't shine
but there eyes do
ten miles from paradise the meaning of utopia changed
and its never felt more real