Album:    Laughs,
Giraffes & Epitaphs

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Composer:   Ed Hooke
Date of Composition/Copyright:   1991
Date of Recording:    1994

Commentary
It's intriguing that, for many of us, the things we're most scared of are actually aspects of ourselves which we try to deny or run away from. I think that one expression of this fear is the stigma we attach to things like psychotherapy eg the alarmed defensive cry of  "I don't need therapy!", which can act as a major obstacle to finding out that maybe we don't need to be so scared after all.  This song was written about my early experiences in my first psychotherapy group.

Stranger feels unwelcome.
Is it the place?
No familiar face
- but old acquaintances are here.
Loneliness and fear are not without.

Let's explore but let's not look outside.
Your safe hiding place is where the menace lurks.
Things aren't always where you see them.

So you find,
in your mind
weeds, weeds, of seeds sown long ago
- rather big.
You'd better dig.
You've started now.
 Dare you stop? 

Feels like out of the icebox, into the fire.
But do banquets come from ovens or from closed fridges?
We can have adventures in the kitchen.

And instead, in your flower bed
you can mix and match.
It's a wild garden!
One life each.
Try to reach one at one with yourself.

Answers flood around but what do they mean?
Are the questions wrong?
What is it we're asking?
Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

Hinges creak.
 Pandora opens her box.
Here's your can of worms
- and one used tin-opener.
Panic wells inside so helpfully!

There's no spade.
 There's just a listening ear.
- room to think out loud
- room to manoeuvre.
- room that you've denied yourself before.

Look around.
Views abound.
This fence looks different from the other side.
Tails have heads.
Follow threads.
Map some chambers of this labyrinth.