The Jungle
Some may tell you life’s like a roller coaster ride,
Whoever they are I’m here to tell you they lied.
It is true that they both have their ups and their downs,
And also their share of smiles and frowns,
Many other aspects are absent from the comparison list,
There are still a few factors that the analogy has missed.

Roller coaster rides are scary, unpredictable, fast,
But in a few minutes, the fear will have passed.
In life it takes days, weeks, years,
Five years for me, drenched in tears.
Thinking life was a ride, always on the track,
With even a safety bar and a rest for my back.
I had no idea the so called “roller coaster of life” could veer off,
Leaving me dumbfounded, scared, soft.
Watching my coaster fall from the broken tracks,
My fear filled mind could never relax.

One family member it was as if we did lose,
And my chaotic emotions, never were soothed.
But he was still alive, filling space,
His mind numb and dull, as if in a daze.
Before the tracks broke, he jumped from the ride,
Thinking it was his only way to survive.
Fearing the future and the unknown,
He leapt without knowing what was below.
For me it made no sense, the ride couldn’t break,
No matter how many risks he did take.

Life is not a roller coaster ride,
For there are no rules by which it must abide.
More like a jungle, filled with chaos and fear,
But also a swinging vine for fun there and here.
The balance was delicate, I learned this without delay,
And I began to make the best out of each day.
He was hitting rock bottom and I began rising,
When I realized none of it helped, the therapy, the chastising.
There was nothing I could do, it was up to him,
He needed to see his future growing dim.

The choices he made, they weren’t good ones,
At first he thought he was doing it for fun.
And I was discovering each day how not to just survive,
But in the crazy mixed up jungle, how to thrive.
Growing stronger each day, each minute, in fact,
While my parents tried to keep our family intact.

Thinking about him caused me to break down,
All the times that I thought there’d be no ‘safe and sound.’
My strength made me not just a girl in the jungle, but a warrior,
With a powerful family behind her, loving her, supporting her.
Finding power in helping others since I could not help him,
My fears were disappearing and I saw them looking slim.

At the moment I least expected, when my hope was almost drained,
He rejoined us in the jungle of life, a full family again.
Realizing that the old roller coaster was fake,
He was ready to quit, no matter what it would take.
The change was hard, it was not simple and quick,
Thinking about what he was going through, it made me feel sick.
But here we are today, a family, and a strong one,
Learning from these experiences, because now they’re finally done.
A tiger at heart, I defend what is mine,
With a newfound confidence, and room to shine.

Life is not like a roller coaster ride,
Because coasters might make one feel a rush inside,
But living in the life that’s a jungle gives something more,
Opening doors and forming skills to discover in life what’s in store.
The roller coaster gives you what seems like true joy,
But the jungle is a place where our fears, we can destroy.

When conquering, excelling, living, away from that theme park ride,
That is when you can feel joy truly inside,
And it is where you will learn to see what I see,
Happy, content, and strong, the best one can be.